I was reading this article when I was reminded of my own taxi trip. I had to take the taxi after I missed the last train for the night and the walk home would have been a long one (and I was carrying all my lacrosse gear to boot).

As I finally got into a taxi (after waiting in a long line with other poor souls who missed the train) to find that the driver could not understand my pronunciations of anything. Lucky for me I always carry my ipod along. I was able to pull up a map i saved on it and could show him where I lived. Yay for technology!

While getting there it turned out he spoke English fairly well, and even knew what lacrosse was. We chatted aimlessly as the meter cranked away at an alarming rate until I finally noticed he flew by my apartment.

The Other week I went to the Thai Festival. No pictures of that worth showing, but here are some others I took that day.

School girls wearing longer than normal skirts.

Domo-kun

Not so sure about this.

A great Japanese toilet.

Again, no idea.

6.8!!!

Well, I am amazing. I was right about a big earthquake coming. I packed a bag so if everything started falling in I could make a run for it. In it was all the cash I have, my camera, computer, all my IDs and my mobile. It turned out to be a 6.8 on the Richter Scale, enough to worry me a bit.

I bought a new phone and tried taking some video with it. Turned out pretty crappy. It is of the Tokyo Monorail.

rumble rumble

I have felt at least 5 separate earthquakes so far this evening, so I am packing a "get out of dodge quick" bag as soon as I finish writing this. If if the elephant that lives above me finally crashes through and extinguishes my small flame, this will be my last post. If she misses me, I will continue to blog on.

It says "Scott Teacher" if you squint real hard or try saying it aloud 3 times really fast (I think the thing on the bottom left is a cup of blood. When starting class we go around asking what we like, one question is "What drink do you like?" and I always answer "student X's blood.")

Golden Week

Last week was vacation but I did nothing but fart around town. I did take a picture of the field next to my apartment building. I guess that was something.


There was a lacrosse tournament on Monday, but since I didn't have the proper paperwork turned in (and since nobody told me about it) I wasn't able to play. I was not the only one, but I wish they'd tell me things in advance. I didn't even know about the tournament until the day before. After sitting around watching them play for hours and hours, I was able to suit up to play against the under-19 National team. I started and played the first 10 minutes full of energy and ready to do some good. Nobody told me that the U-19 team was so bad. The ball got down to our side of the field only once in the 10 minutes of the first quarter.

I was relieved after those previously mentioned 10 minutes, but no worries I thought, there are three more quaters to play. After the end of the first quarter though, everyone on our team started taking their gear off and another team ran onto the field. Turns out they forgot to inform me that we were only playing 1 quarter. Glad I sat around for 7 hours watching them play so I could get in for ten minutes at the end of the day. Oh, and the only rain all day was during those 10 minutes.

Afterwards though they made up for it by paying for my drinks and food at a nearby restaurant. While eating and drinking, on guy kept taking off his shirt and another kept passing out. They all treated me well and made me feel like I was a part of the team (I think they finally realized that I am not as crappy as I first appeared).


Unfortunately we left late and I missed the last train to my apartment. It is only 3 short stops away but cost $25 for a taxi. At least I didn't have to pay for the drinks that night.

I live in a ground floor apartment. I don't have any windows, but I do have two big patio doors. The doors open up to the parking lot. All that is keeping anyone from walking in is a screen with no lock. Japan is safe, but I still feel a little nervous leaving it open at night.

Tonight I finally decided to keep it open to let in some nice cool air.

At around 1:30am I heard sirens. 1:35, more sirens. 1:45 still more sirens. I finally noticed, after pulling my eyes open, that there were flashing lights right outside my patio door. I watched men in sky blue jumpsuits and white helmets run back and forth for awhile till I was startled by the doorbell.

I opened the door to about twenty men standing there in all sorts of uniforms and safety equipment things flashing and strange computers. Their eyes bugged out when they saw I wasn't one of them. I think they asked me if I smelled anything. They pointed to their noses and said "Nashi". Lucky for me my manager taught me that word last week! Hamburgoo Picklesoo nashi=hamburger, no pickles.

I was able to answer "nashi" and they went on their merry way. I guess they found the problem in one of the apartments above mine since they were banging away up there for awhile. OK, I suppose that means I can go back to sleep now. I hope there wasn't too much poison (or whatever it was) leaking in through my open door/window.

Oh, there have been a few well publicized suicides from people inhaling homemade poison gas. Some of the gas also poisoned neighbors, so I think the Japanese are paranoid now.