Report from Greater Tokyo

Today my students asked me which of the (JHS) girls in the class I fancied the most. I refused to answer the question. And yes, they were asking about "like" in the non-platonic sense.

What did they expect me to reply? Dirty little buggers, those kids are.

Today I had lunch with a TV director. My life is odd like that.

So today I went down to the ward office to register a kanji hanko. I was fully expecting them to turn me down, as I am not from a Chinese-character-using country, and have no official documentation to support the kanji I chose.

Actually, they did refuse to register my hanko, but that was because it was made of rubber, and not something more durable, such as plastic or wood. Apparently, because these are kept and used for years or even decades, rubber isn't durable enough. But the kanji themselves are now on my gaijin card, and all official correspondence from the government will use those kanji. They said I can come back next working day with a wooden or plastic (or ivory etc) hanko and get it registered properly.

So for all you boys and girls out there in the Land of the Rising Sun, E.S.I.D., but you can probably get your own kanji name officially registered simply for the asking, as that is essentially what I did. Whether you can be bothered to is of course another question.

So it looks like I'm gonna be on TV. A guy from a TV company came and did a two and a half hour interview with me this afternoon, and in a week or three they'll come round again, this time with cameras and stuff.

Details to anyone who knows me and asks by phone or email. Some things aren't getting publicized here. Once again, I have more proof that my life is inherently ridiculous. Where else do you end up going on TV simply for being a foreigner.

Today is election day here in Japan. naturally, not being Japanese, I can't vote, although I have a friend who is naturalized (even denounced his old US citizenship and ritually spat and stamped on his old passport). I don't think I'd ever go to such extremes.

The primary method of canvassing in Japan is NOT door to door visits, which are apparently almost unknown. Nor is it poster campaigns, although these play a part. I don't know if there are televised debates or even partly (or party) political broadcasts, not having a TV. No, the primary method of canvassing consists of small vans with 100+ decibel sound systems driving slowly through various neighbourhoods promoting their candidate.

Thank you! thank you! It's a beautiful day. Thank you. Because I'll try.

Good morning. Thank you. It's a lovely day. Thank you. We can do it. Thank you.

Ah, such a tough decision to make. No, I am not being at all facetious. These are indeed direct translations of some of their announcements. I have yet to hear any mention of actual policy coming from those vans.

As an aside, the JTE I was working with the other day mentioned that there is an actual Communist party in Japan, although no one takes them at all seriously. I told him that Japan has been described as the most successful communist state ever, which Shocked and Awed(tm) him. But consider...

• Japanese people are generally encouraged, and often do, think as a group rather than as individuals.
• The Japanese government directly controls a very large fraction of Japanese industry, and significant shares in many others.
• The same political party has been in power for all but one of the last fifty years.

If they openly called it communism, no one could reasonably question such a statement on factual grounds, merely political ideology grounds (they're our friends! they can't be commies!)

Yahoo Japan Weather | Typhoon Page. Looks like a hurricane is coming this way. Fortunately it isn't expected to hit this part of Japan. I'd hate to be in Kyushu about now though.

Today and yesterday I made a couple of trips to a board of Education, to try and sell my crazy ideas to them. if it works, I will be rich beyond my (admittedly somewhat modest) dreams of avarice. If it doesn't, well, there's always next year.

After that, I went down to the British Embassy to get a certificate of signature. This certificate apparently proves that my signature is indeed written by me, eyewitness accounts of me signing a document in front of the other person involved apparently not being taken as sufficient proof in Japan.

Today's dinner was noodles with pesto, tuna, and a dash of cinnamon and cloves.