Another long, long day. I haven’t worked this hard since Monday, the last time I came in to the office . . . Well, actually, I did a bit of work over the three days we had off (Golden Week, baby!) but today actually involved getting dressed.

Yesterday I went down to ASIJ and dropped off copies of the book at the library and with Matsumoto-sensei, who first taught me this crazy language. Well, she gave me the first classroom learning I got. The Bochi kids got me started early on with valuable lingo you don’t get in JFL1 . . . the phrases that get you beer in Tsubohachi and sea chicken onigiri at the 7-Eleven. Anyway. I gave her a book to show her that at least one of her students from the late 1980s remembered what she taught.

Kind of a culture gap between the school as I knew it and the school there now. I had to call ahead and have a teacher inform the security guards I was on the way; then I had to show ID to prove it was me; then they gave me a sticker to put on my shirt so I wouldn’t be attacked by taser-wielding attack bulldogs, or something. It was odd to go up to the balcony of the new administrative building and look out at the swimming pool we used to break into at night for a summer swim and the water tower we used to climb for a dawn can of beer as we watched the crimson sun paint the mists of Nogawa Park. I don’t think that happens much any more.

Back to work! Tonight I will, I will, I will buy a copy of Tiger to install over the weekend. I have to see what it’s all about.