5:42 p.m. Must order new fan for Obaba. I asked her whether she would like to order a new fan for 2,800 yen or, only the blades for 1,100 yen this morning, since I couldn't decide myself and also because it was she who were paying for it. "I don't know," said Obaba, unable to see the difference between the given choices. I told her about the price and then added, that the blades might take longer to arrive at which point the old woman jumped to an answer saying, "Get me a new one." As I asked, "Why? Do you need it that bad?" she nodded deeply to my question as to say &slquo;definitely’ Consumeristic-culture-corrupted generation.

5:59 p.m. Shocked to find a day between two national holidays have become make-up holidays since last year. That means, if the Respect for the Aged Day was on Monday and the Autumnal Equinox Day was on Wednesday, we would have had five consecutive holidays...wow.

The End

Caterpillar

4:12 p.m. It's been a while since price-slashing has begun here in this country, mainly in food service, clothes retailers and electronics retailers though airline companies seemed to stay completely out of it, almost trying not to get involved. However, foreign low-cost air carriers recently starting their service in Japan may be changing this situation drastically. Have read an article on Yahoo! News that competition between LCC are heating up and that some companies including China's Spring Airlines and Tiger Airways from Singapore, are considering bringing in ‘standing’ seats onto their planes. According to the article, the passengers are expected to ‘stand’ leaning their bodies against those seats which should look like the ones on a roller-coaster, with straps to secure your shoulders and waist. The whether or nots of these seats actually appearing on their planes are still uncertain for security reasons, but if it does, the ticket price is said to be as low as 1,000 yen!

5:34 p.m. No wonder for a Chinese Airline to set the price so low. Undecided to use that airline though. Still, more options are better than no options.

The End

Caterpillar

3:21 p.m. Have been to Amazon.com to order a completely same but new fan for Obaba, but to my surprise it was sold out. Looks like it wasn't only me who broke the sail.

3:29 p.m. Have just called the electronics retail shop to order the sail. I was told the last time when I called to check the price, that it would take at least seven to ten days before it comes in, so all I can do now is to wait until they give me a call to come pick it up. Must cope with Obaba's complaints until then, though. Sigh.

The End

Caterpillar

1:52 p.m. Cow has picked up a news from somewhere that the number of mosquitos were thirty percent fewer than ususal this summer. Even mosquitos can't seem to stand this heat.

1:55 p.m. But I've been seeing a swarm of mosquitos in and around the Myoga(Japanese ginger) bush in the back of our kitchen. It's as if they've come to gather in the shady damp bush from the whole neighborhood, and despite the fact that there were supposed to be fewer mosquitos than usual, I've been attacked by tens of them every time I go out there to pick some Myoga. As a result, my legs have costantly been speckled with mosquito bites. However, thanks to the Katori-senko(mosquito coils), haven't been attacked while sleeping. And perhaps because I've been using those Kincho coils since I was a baby, they make it easier the to get off to sleep even on the hottest nights. Really, I wouldn't know how to get over summer without them.

The End

Caterpillar

11:38 a.m. Am sitting on my Goza mat with my Teva sandals, a thin cutter knife, a pair of scissors, adhesive bond, a piece of rubber, and a piece of polyurethane rubber laid out in front of me. Have been wearing my sandals every summer since seven years ago, and although they are said to be good for about ten years, the soles are wearing out leaving me merely two milimeters before I wear a hole in them. So have decided to reinforce the thin part of the soles.

2;38 p.m. Polyurethane rubber turned out to be easy to handle. Can cut them in any shape I wan to easily with scissors. Have stuck them with adhesive bond to the worn out parts. Looks good so far.

6:42 p.m. Have been struggling with the rubber sheet for more than two hours... Was going to cut the sheet and stick it on the worn out parts to cover the polyurethane, to prevent them coming off while walking however, rubber sheet is about five milimeters thick and in spite of my desperate attempt, have not been able to make it any thinner than four milimeters which is apparently too thick that it sticks out of the sole.

6:44 p.m. Arrrgh! Arrrrgh! Blood! Blood! Tip of the cutter knife has accidentally dug into left index finger with unbelievable amount of blood splurging out.

The End

12:37 p.m. Dropped by a do-it-yourself store to get myself a set of anti-slip shoe sole stickers. I gave up the rubber sheet after cutting my hand and decided to switch to the ready-made, easy to handle device, stickers.

12:39 p.m. Ahh, this, this. Two sheets included. But my jaws dropped as I saw the price. 780 yen! For two sheets of stickers?!

1:42 p.m. Have eventually settled for a sticker type thinner rubber sheet for 200 yen. I'm not sure if this would be good, but I'm sure it would be better than wasting 780 yen for two sheets of anti-slip stickers which a)might not be big enough to cover the polyurethane, and b)are too thin and might come off easily.

2:30 p.m. Have stuck the rubber sheet over the polyurethane. Was afraid it could be too thick that it might stick out from the whole sole, but it seems all right. Have tried the sandals on my feet but it feels O.K. Must get myself a new pair, though. Don't think that my makeshift reinforcement would last so long.

The End

Caterpillar

4:30 p.m. Have been forced to live without computer for nearly two months now. And because Cow had told me that they would drop the price, I have been checking Dell's site every single day but they haven't. The price haven't been changed since end of July... Sure there were some minor changes, but the price of the lap-top I'm aiming at hasn't been changed AT ALL for nearly two months.

4:35 p.m. Have just been to the site for today's visit, but zilch. I don't need that security software, nor the one-year after care service! I'm sure the price can be dropped at least 5,000 yen without them. I thought one of Dell's selling point was that you could customize what you want to mount on your computer. How come security software and after service can't be ‘customized?’

The End

Caterpillar

3:35 p.m. A typhoon has landed on Fukui prefecture for the first time in recorded history, currently passing through Aichi prefecture headed for the Pacific Ocean, and Tokyo is being hit by heavy rain. It's a good deal of rain in a month and since Tokyo has been drying up under extreme heat, it will be a heavenly bliss. But the trouble with heavy rain is that it also makes the ceiling of our forty-something-year-old office leak...

3:48 p.m. Oh God. Have found another leak on the other side of the room. We need another bucket or bowl or whatever. Oh no, we're running out of buckets...

The End

Caterpillar

8:31 a.m. Was awakened by an unfamiliar voice at the door. Then as I was getting up, JoOusama came up the stairs warning me not to use the water from the tap because the plumber has come. Plumber? What? Why? Does that mean I can't even use the toilet? "For how long?" I asked, but the answer was "I don't know" What does she mean, "I don't know?" How long do I have to fight against the call of the wild? Besides, I have to fix today's lunch. What am I going to do without water?

8:34 a.m. Think I'll have a smoke to calm down and figure out what I can do. If she was expecting a plumber, JoOusama should have told me last night. If she did, I could have kept some water in the pot or something and be prepared for the don't-use-the-water crisis. Why can't she spare a piece of mind for someone else?

9:04 a.m. I went downstairs to the kitchen, determined to cook lunch leaving all the washing in the sink until I got a go. That should also distract me from my urge to go to the toilet. But as I opened the fridge to take the ingredients out, luckily I heard the plumber saying he was finished. Oh, thank God.

The End

Caterpillar

3:31 p.m. It has been comparatively cool the past two days after the typhoon had gone, though the heat is back today. But it's somehow different from the enormous heat and stickiness we had until last week. The air is dry and it's cool enough that you won't sweat as long as you stay in the shades. Hmm, autumn is finally coming. It must be right around the corner.

3:40 p.m. Have just read an article that said the shipping quantity of beer in August have dropped to the least in recorded history. How could it have dropped when I drank so much beer this summer? Has everyone been sleeping or what?

The End

Caterpillar

2:02 p.m. A message was left on the answer phone in our office. It was from the electronics retailing shop telling that the fan sail has come in. I've got to drop by to pick it up. But if I have to pick the sail up on my way home that means I've got to carry it along till I get home, through the crowded streets and in the packed train cars... it's pretty big, you know, 30cm in diameter. God, that brings me down when I think about it.

2:22 p.m. What if it gets crushed by the weight of other passengers and get broken again?

The End

Caterpillar

9:02 a.m. Have got up early to go to the Nihon-bashi library today. It's a library located in Chu-oh Ward near Suiten-gu Mae station, where you can find the Nihon-bashi elementary school, pre-school, swimming pool and a library all in one building! Very much impressed to see a school and a libray in one building. I've dropped by the place last week and discovered that they had some computers accessible to the Internet which you can use for free, only if you register and create your own library card. And there were some English books too, including "Millenium - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Pretty excited.

3:12 p.m. Home, eating lunch with beer. Mmmm. Good thing have dropped by to get some beer. Once again I wonder, how could the shipping quantity have dropped?

The End

Caterpillar

2:55 p.m. Oooh, have a stinging pain in the back of my neck. Seems have fallen asleep while reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Actually, have just started reading the book and since am not a fast reader, have only read up to page thirty-six, where ‘the girl with the dragon tattoo’ appears in the story as Lisbeth Salander. Wonder why these female characters are always so attractive and beautiful, though.

3:02 p.m. It is hot again today, but the weekly forecast has been telling that it will get cooler from tomorrow which could probably provide us perfect condition for reading. As the cool autumn season sets in, Japanese tend to speak of "Aki no Yonaga," meaning that autumn is the best season to spend the longer nights quietly, enjoying quiet activities such as reading books or viewing the moon. It's good I have a book with me, hopefully an interesting one.

The End

Caterpillar

9:20 a.m. Have slept late. Must hurry since have got to put out the garbage which includes the broken fan sail that has been replaced by a new one last Saturday, fix my lunch, fix myself a slice of toast and a cup of coffee, then get changed and get ready to go.

9:42 a.m. Finished preparing lunch, taking possible precautions to avoid a fly that I've spotted in the kitchen. It must have flown in from somewhere. Have made Sanma no Kabayaki (literally, grilled saury) by the way, and some Daikon-oroshi (grated Japanese radish) to go with it for today's lunch. My first Sanma this fall. Mmmm, smells super. I'll just let it stay to cool off. Meantime, am toasting my slice of bread in a toaster while pouring coffee over my mug. As my toaster said Brring! to tell me that my toast was ready, I started spreading butter on my toast. Then, I turned to my coffee to take a sip. AAaarrrrrggggghh! There was the fly floating on the surface of my coffee. How.. how dare he ruin my coffee!

The End

Caterpillar

3:09 p.m. Meeting has been cancelled again, so have been browsing the Internet and have come across an American outlet shop site called Sierra Trading Post. This shop carries dead stocks and now unsold items from various brands and to my joyous surprise, Teva's sports sandals were among one of them! As you might already know, I was about to wear a pair out and was pretty desperate to find somewhere to get myself a new one. Have tried going to the manufaturer's site, but the price had made me hesitate.

3:30 p.m. Seems I can get a new pair for 29.95 dollars at Sierra Trading, plus am supposed to be able to get a 20 percent additional discount if I use the coupon distributed from their affiliate sites. That sums up to 53.95 dollars a pair, shipping fee included, 79.92 dollars for two pairs, which is roughly equivalent to the price of a pair bought at Teva. This sure is a bargain. But the problem is that they accept payments only by credit cards, which I haven't been carrying since had cancelled it years ago... Hmmm, what to do?

The End

Caterpillar

3:55 p.m. Am very annoyed with umbrellas. Very annoyed with people putting up umbrellas, to be more precise. Actually, have been seeing quite a few people putting up huge umbrellas these days. Why do they put up umbrellas that are unnecessarily big? Hasn't it ever occurred to them that they're blocking other people's way? There were times when I nearly had either of my eyes picked with the tip of those huge umbrellas and it wasn't just once or twice. There are certain Japanese manners when putting up umbrellas, but those people simply seem to have forgotten.

4:04 p.m. Searching for a rain parka on Sierra Trading Post. Have always wanted to get one, and thought now could be a good time. At least, I wouldn't have to be self-indulgent like those people, as long as I give up the idea of putting up umbrellas and wear rain parkas instead. Oooh, that reminded me that I had to get a credit card first...

The End

Caterpillar

1:35 p.m. Am getting very nervous. Have just called Cow's brother to ask for permission to hit his boy. I have been teaching English to the boy who is obviously, Cow's nephew for about a year, and he has skipped my lesson for the second time without notice. The last time was approximately a year ago and the reason for his absence without even a call presumably, was because he got carried away and was lost in the commotion for the preparation of his school festival. It is understandable for him to get excited before a big school event however, I had warned him the last time that he should have called me if he couldn't come, and that if he does the same thing again he would get scorched, though I am forgiving him for the first time. And this was the second time. The boy has to learn a lesson.

1:52 p.m. Violence is not what I hold as my principle, though I consider it as one option, if necessary, to have some important things in life to be printed in one's memory, especially when that person is young. Fortunately, I had a ‘go’ from his father, but still am completely responsible for the outcome of my punishment. Have spent a troubling week thinking over and over about my decision and yet my stomach is lurching when I think about the consequence. But I have to get over it. For the boy's sake.

The End

2:47 p.m. A woman has just appeared at our office door to hand me a mail. On the transparent case what seemed to be a sort of envelope, it had a sticker of Kuroneko Yamato (Kuroneko Transport Co., a delivery service) on the top left and an adress sticker on the top center which was apparently addressed to our office. As I turned it over to see what it was, I discovered it was a flier from a real-estate. The flier showed a layout of an office located on the sixth floor of a nine storied building, with a photo of the building's appearance. As I looked for the rent rate, my eyes fell on letters printed in bold that said, "Free Rent, can be arranged." What do they mean, "Free Rent, can be arranged?" We're more than glad if we don't have to pay the rent.

2:59 p.m. Have studied the flier thoroughly while Cow has been out to the dentist for his monthly check, and have found that they charge 35,000 yen per month for a parking lot. That apparently seems to point out that they have absolutely no intentions to rent the office for free, I suppose.

The End

8:11 a.m. I'm awake but still securely covered under my blanket. Don't want to get up yet though am being urged with the desperate need of a visit to the bathroom. However, bathroom presently seems to be occupied...damn.

8:13 a.m. Holding on.

8:18 a.m. What's taking so LONNNG?

11:29 a.m. Seems like have fallen asleep again. Suddenly remembered that I was waiting for the bathroom to clear off and jumped up to check if I hadn't been sleeping in a puddle. Relieved to find my Goza mat to be completely dry. It would be too embarrassing if I had leaked in my sleep. What would the boy think if he found out that the very same person who had hit him in hope of teaching him a lesson, had wet the bed?

11:33 a.m. Ahhhhh. Relieved.

The End

1:42 p.m. Have slept till noon today. Well I need to make up for the lack of my sleep sometimes. Although I know in my heart that I should go to sleep earlier, I'm a typical night owl and can't help staying up late.

1:48 p.m. Just had coffee and was about to go out on the veranda for a smoke, but then I realized have run out of cigarettes. Reluctantly, I decided to go out to get a pack.

5:58 p.m. Speaking of cigarettes, the prices are going to be raised by a large margin from next month. It's getting harder for smokers to survive these days. The government had announced earlier, that it was for the sake of "protecting and improving the people's health." Drrrrr. Don't you protect-and-improve-the-people's-health me. Why are there so many cars on the streets of Tokyo, then?

The End

Caterpillar

9:38 a.m. Have overslept again. No big surprise since have been up till four in the morning finishing up "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which I found accordingly amusing. Must fix lunch in a hurry. I had made a change in my lunch menu for today last night, after I had unexpectedly learned from the TV forecast that today was going to be hot again. Until then, was determined to make macaroni au gratin and had prepared all the ingredients however, the predicted temperature of a high of thirty-one degrees had made me change my mind.

10:30 a.m. Still can not come up with a better thing to eat for lunch though am running out of time. How am I supposed to make something out of a merely small portion of left-over boiled chicken? Must leave the house so I can be at the office by 12:30 p.m. at the latest, which means I have to leave in approximately less than fifteen minutes... Help.

The End

Caterpillar

9:40 a.m. Got caught by Obaba questioning me for ten minutes asking where had JoOusama gone. How the hell should I know? She never tells me where she's going though she usually wants to take control over every single move I make. Seeing that her slippers were not left on the entrance floor, I told Obaba that she should be either somewhere in the house or, in the narrow strip of land outside our window where we called "garden."

5:16 p.m. It was around midnight last night when I peered in Obaba's room after hearing a loud thud and discovered Obaba lying helplessly on her back on the Tatami, while a clothes hanger with tons of clothes hanging from it, lay over the the spinning fan. The lights were turned off and it was dark in the room with Obaba, not seeming to understand what had happened. It took me half an hour to finally reach the conclusion that Obaba apparently have tripped over something and fell on her back, unable to find her way in the dark. I was trying to get to sleep earlier though the incident had consumed a precious thirty minutes of my time, which led to an expanding one hour delay in my schedule, eventually finding myself lying down to sleep as late as usual. Really, I don't think I can't take this any longer. Help.

The End

Caterpillar

6:21 a.m. Raining cats and dogs outside. Was awakened by the roaring of thunder. Though even that roaring has been mingled with the drumming, almost pounding sound of rain on the roof. Seems like all the rain that had been holding up through this summer has come crashing down on us all at once. Feels like the climate here is changing and the rain that used to fall now and then is somehow held up in the sky until the clouds can't hold it any more, and suddenly come falling down in a flood. The problem is, I have a bad feeling that it's gettin heavier and heavier over the years. I wonder if we're going to have a huge flood one day, like the Great Flood. Well, in that case, at least I wouldn't have to worry about my computer getting wet since I don't have one right now. Besides it wouldn't matter what gets wet or not anyway, when my life will be at stake.

6:22 a.m. Am going back to sleep. What will be, will be. Ce sera sera.

The End

Caterpillar

3:20 p.m. Have spent a whole day yesterday, reading "The Girl Who Played with Fire - Millennium the second" since it was a holiday and also because it had been raining all day. Am now on page six-hundred-and-thirty of the six-hundred-and-forty-nine-paged book. Am finishing up. The book has turned out to be more exciting and enjoyable for me than the previous episode, which made me read over six hundred pages in less than a week while it took me about the same to finish five hundred pages of the last book.

3:30 p.m. After reading two books from the series, have come to like the characters appearing in the book. The main characters in the seies seem to use Mac iBooks regurlarly, and I'm feeling myself drawn towards getting an iBook instead of waiting for the Dell lap-top price to fall down.

The End

Caterpillar

5:17 p.m. Cow is pissed off because I've run the meeting over time. Great.

5:45 p.m. He has placed all the blame on me, pulled out the plugs of his lap-top, took it and scuttled away out of this office into his sacred place, home. Great.

5:46 p.m. Am left alone in the office. Is this some kind of a punishment? O.K. It's probably all my fault anyway. It's my fault that I didn't act like Cow had expected me to, it's my fault that I'm left alone in the office feeling like a miserable beaten dog, Cow's feeling terrible is all my fault, this unusual coolness is all my fault, the reason for his coming back into the office sitting in oppressive silence is all my fault, IT'S ALL MY FAULT.

The End

Caterpillar

6:03 a.m. Shivering under blankets. It's way past cool, it's cold. Think that I should have pulled over my down quilt, still the idea does not get me crawling out from under the blanket. Will stay shivering instead rather than go and fetch down quilt. Brrrrr.

11:39 a.m. It's warmer when the sun is up in the sky, though the past week has been cool since that heavy rain last Sunday, or was it Monday? Never mind. That means at least that crazy heat is completely over now. No more attacks from swarming mosquitos, no more fights against roaches. Goodbye summer, hello autumn. The coming of autumn means the coming of horse race season. But there's been the raise in cigarette prices, must save enough money for new lap-top, which eventually leads to the fact that I don't have much to bet this season...

The End

Caterpillar

3:40 p.m. Nothing new going in my life... Same as usual. Lap-top price hasn't changed since July.

3:44 p.m. Just remembered that I tried booting up my old Mac Power PC yesterday. Have discovered that it still worked properly however, I had some trouble tapping in queries on the Google search. As I tried to tap a query in the search box in Japanese, instead of showing Japanese words, it showed a strange bunch of characters. I checked the encodings but nothing seemed to be wrong. After several attempts which ended in vain, I decided, that the problem must lay somewhere in between Google and the version of my browser Internet Explorer 5.1, which probably must be considered already as history.

The End

Caterpillar

2:06 p.m. Have remembered another small change in my life. I've bought a Thermos Vacuum Insulated Commuter Bottle (that's what it said on their catalog) which contains 500ml for a cut down price of 2,480 yen. Have been buying tea in PET bottles every day to drink inside the office. But I have been on a tight budget for the past couple of months to save some money for a new lap-top, and reconsidered spending 130 yen every day for a bottle of tea, since it would give me enough money to buy a Thermos bottle in a month. All I have to do is buy a Thermos bottle, prepare tea in it every morning with tea leaves that JoOusama pays for, and carry the bottle to the office. Hmmm, very good moneywise and also earth friendly.

2:24 p.m. Am very much satisfied with the Thermos bottle. It's amazing how the bottle can keep tea warm until evening! I nearly burned my tongue when I drank from it yesterday evening, finding tea unexpectedly still piping hot. And the good thing is, tea doesn't leak out even when the bottle is turned upside down! It made a great buy.

The End

Caterpillar

5:50 p.m. Have discovered today, that the Thermos Vacuum Insulated Commuter Bottle was winning a wide share around myself. As one of my clients walked through our door, she instantly spotted my new Thermos bottle standing on the table and cried out that she had exactly the same thing, adding that it was also in the same color. We've agreed that it was very convenient and useful. It can be used for carrying both hot and cold drinks and according to my client, the ice doesn't melt for over a day once you put it in the bottle. Amazing!

5:57 p.m. Another thing I was surprised was that her father, brother and sister in law, all had the same Thermos bottles respectively, in different colors. The Thermos Vacuum Insulated Commuter Bottle seems to be very popular around me. Personally, think it deserves the credit.

The End

Caterpillar

4:19 p.m. Have been busy with a succession of meetings and haven't been able to check out what's going on in this world today. But I've caught a glimpse of the news that existance of a planet very much like Earth, has been discovered outside our solar system. Wow. The science fictional news had caught my eye and have been anxious to find out more about it, though unfortunately, I still have three more sessions starting from 4:40.

4:25 p.m. I must have murmured something like "don't have the time," from the corner of my mouth, since to my dismay, Cow has just called off our coffee break which we have every afternoon, though I had been looking forward to it very much...

The End

Caterpillar