Warning: Down Time

Recently, I have been trying to have a little down time. You know, not doing much of anything except relaxing at home. Currently, I an on the tail end of a transition in my daily work schedule. I have been enduring tight all day meetings, along with, making sure everyone is to to speed with everyone else. I have backed off the independent teacher stuff for a while. I cannot balance my duties at work with trying to teach students on the side. Besides, my day job is gonna fill my days pretty well; leaving me little time for any side work.

Anyway, I have somehow been able to squeeze out some much needed down time from my schedule. I need these few days to get my head clear and focus myself for what will prove to be a very busy March. I will start traveling around the Tokyo area to manage several different branches under my responsibility; starting from March. A lot of work has already went into getting the system set up, and we are pretty much ready to lock and load. I do expect a few tough spots during March but six months from now the area manager system should be running like a well oiled machine.

Everyone is focusing on a different part of branch operation they want to improve. For me, I am going to put a huge focus on improving professional appearance, increase sales by increasing the variety of lessons offered, developing a closer bond along teachers, involve teachers more in the daily operation of their base branch, etc... After looking at what I am up against I feel that I get at lease get some improvement out of all parts of branch operation I want.

But anyway...enough of that work stuff. I am getting tanked! Oh yeah, instead of running around Tokyo looking for something to get into, I am relaxing at home getting wasted on big bottles of Kirin Beer classic. I have had little desire to venture out into the depths of the city as of late. I know exactly what is out there. As of late, I just have not had much of a desire to jump head first into the madness of Tokyo. Maybe this is good for me due to all the stuff I been working on recently. Staying out of trouble has it advantage.

SO, how many of you out there like to get tanked at home as a way of letting off steam? What is your favorite drink to get smashed on at home?

I am Stronger Than a Demon! HaHa

When the going get tough, the tough get a gun! Well, maybe not in Japan; but you get my point. I have been kind of hard on myself the past couple of weeks. While it is good to kick yourself in the ass sometimes, for motivation purposes, too much can get you stuck in a hole. So I have snapped out of it and pulled myself up by my bootstraps.

When I think about all the crazy ass stuff that goes down in Tokyo daily, and compare it to what life was like in West Virginia, Tokyo really is a push over in most cases. Yeah, there are a few things I will most likely never like about Tokyo. I think there is no place in the world which can be perfect.

With that said I have had to pull my bootstraps pretty tight this go round in order to slap myself back to par. I guess I have finally experienced what so many people have warned me about. The dreaded `Tokyo Rut.` This city can be unforgiving sometimes. If you are not ready for the pressure you can become overwhelmed. I have dealt with some heavy shit in my day, but nothing could have prepared me for how different daily life in Tokyo is compared to the mountains of West Virginia. I feel that, at this point, I am finally adjusted to living in our dirty little city. I have been tested and I survived. I have learned kind of how things work in this city. For example, it is common for people to fuck with each other just to see who can take the heat. People do the same thing in West Virginia, but in Tokyo it is totally different. In WV people simply try to fight you. If you stand up to them, they will have a lot of respect for you. In Tokyo, people will talk shit and criticize you right in your face in front of other people. You cannot fight them or you will lose `face.` Instead, you have two choices; either say nothing back and look like a stupid fool, or say something so blunt and true about the other person they will have nothing else to say. It is a bunch of childish bullshit in my opinion, but that is just the way things are in Tokyo. I tell people often that if they tried the same shit in West Virginia somebody would beat the holy fuck out of them real quick.

Tokyo you will never break me! Do you hear that motherfucker! You gave me your worst and I am still standing asshole! HaHaHa FUCK YOU!

Tokyo is my home now. I clam all the sad, crazy, drunken, madness which makes our dirty little city so great. We are all messed-up in the head. We are all crazy ass Tokyo people.

Stupid, God Damn, Quit Smoking, Bull Shit!

As you can tell from the title of this post I am experiencing withdraw. In fact the withdraw is much stronger than I expected. I knew that kicking the habit would involve a little pain and restlessness. I did not expect some of the finer details of the withdraw pain. It can get pretty bad at some moments. I feel like I am going to fucking pop! I am starting to act like a heroin addict stuck in prison with no heroin! Dammit I really need a smoke!

Wait...wait...a little longer...ok I am fine now.


SO, at this point almost all of the tobacco is out of my body. I am in full withdraw mode now. All I can think about sometimes is the desire to smoke. Actually, right now is not the best time for me to stop smoking. There are a lot of things going on with me at the moment. Yet, quitting smoking is a must for my life right now. You see, if I can actually quit smoking it will delight the gal in my life as well as show others that any goal can be achieved. From a leadership stand point, it can only earn me some major respect point from those under me.

Anyway, let me share with all of you what I am experiencing.

---lose of feeling or ability to taste much of anything with my tongue

--totally lose of what little ability a had to sleep in the past(I suffer from insomnia;not related to stopping smoking)

--I twitch

--a sway back and forth when sitting in a chair.

my skin feels like it is going to jump off my body

--I cannot listen to the sound of any women`s voice for more than a few minutes(unless I am being paid to listen to them of course).

--uncontrolled desire for beer

--my stomach hurts

--I want to fight someone; anyone really; in fact the next motherfucker...wait...wait...a little longer...okay I am fine now.


I think you get the point. I really feel like shit. I am trying to be strong but it is hard. The gal was nice enough to pick me up some stop-smoking pipes to help me long. It is actually an interesting little invention. The photo at the top of this page is the box for these little things. I don`t know if they actually have nicotine in them or not. They do help out a little. I hope that I can get over the withdraw soon or else I might do something really stupid. You know, like keep a whole carton of smokes at work just to be able to sneak and have one or two without the gal knowing anything. I do not want to reduce myself to such behavior. I really do want to quit smoking! I must stay hard as stone to do this.

In this day and age people are real assholes towards people trying to kick the habit. They fuck with you can say that you will never do it. They also show you very little mercy. In fact, people tend to put more stress on you if they know you are trying to stop. I do not get this kind of crap at all. Show a little support you fucks! Okay!

Now, I am drinking some beer trying to pass out. It is the only thing I know to do in order to get some sleep. Just drink myself stupid. It is kind of working actually. I feel a little sleepy. Maybe I can get some damn sleep tonight at least.

J-Blog of the Week Ed.#6 Chirimotsumoreba

Not to worry there will be a J-blog of the week. I have been moving the date around a lot for this thing; but now is looks like Friday is during out to be the day for the weekly J-blog. I have really enjoyed doing this so far. The whole point of the J-blog of the week is to expose people to English language J-blog that a lot of people might otherwise overlook. My site, surprising enough, gets a pretty good amount of hits so this is my way of giving back to the English J-web community.

This week lets all take a look at chirimotsumoreba.net. I have checking out this site for several months. The person behind this site is a cool person. He works really hard, not only in life, but also on his site. He covers a lot of topics but the main draw to chirimotsumoreba is the great Sumo coverage.

That's right folks! If you want to keep abreast on the latest Sumo events this site is for you. I admit that I am not the biggest Sumo fan. To tell the truth, I really do not know so much about the rules and such. I still have yet to attend an actual event. None the less, I do enjoy reading about it and seeing videos of the matches. I guess you can call me a curious bystander. The sport looks to be interesting. chirimotsumoreba satisfies my curiosity of Japan`s traditional sport. The cool thing about the Sumo coverage on this site is that you get some play-by-play of each match. He seems to be very knowledgeable about the sport. This helps the reader to better get into the action. He almost always provides a video so you can see what happened. As an added bonus, he sometimes covers issues surronding the sport. For example in this post he looks at Sumos accusing each other of offering money to throw matches. The detailed coverage he offers helps to expose the world to Sumo. I commend him for these efforts because many people have no idea concerning the ends and outs of Japan`s traditional sport.

This site is not just about Sumo. He blogs about others thing as well. From time to time he will feature a photo along with a story about how the photo came about. I like reading the photo posts because he always seems to take a decent photo and provide a interesting tale to match. This one is a good example of what he runs across. Obama selling pachinko is something I never expected to see any place in the world. Yet, our pal at Chirimotsumoreba found Obama doing just that on a Saturday in Shibuya.


Give this site a good look. The Sumo coverage is great as well as all the other stuff you can find. The design is pretty professional, better than my scary layout, so it is easy to explore. I think that everyone will like this site.

No More Smoking Mr. Smith

Damn! I just agreed to quit smoking. I have been smoking from the time I was 16. Yeah, I was one of those kids who started smoking because it was an easy way to socialize and make friends. You know, if you smoke you can hang out in the boys bathroom and make friends. It was an easy way to get acceptance from my peers. It was the common opinion, among the boys, that tough guys smoke. Everyone wanted to be a tough guy. I can still remember how I got my first pack of smokes. There was this senior boy who lived on my street. He knew just about everything concerning cars. So of course I wanted to hang out with him. He usually did not give to shits about me. In fact, our first meeting ended up in me getting the crap kicked out of me. He beat me up pretty good. Now that I am an adult, looking back on the situation, I should have avoid the guy. I was a teenager desperate for acceptance. So, I kept hanging around him. As a way to gain his friendship I talked him into buying me a pack me smokes. I have been hooked ever since my first pack of Lucky Strikes.

Now I am 29 and it is time to kick the habit. There are many reasons why I am quitting. The main reason is the gal has developed an extreme sensitivity to cig smoke. She used to smoke but she quit about a year ago. I was really surprised by how easy she quit smoking. She was smoking about a pack a day. Suddenly, about a week, she was not smoking at all. Over time she has started to complain about my smoking habit. She starts to sneeze and complains of headaches due to the smoke. The situation has gotten to the point of becoming a real problem. I like her a lot so now I am quitting the habit once and for all.

So, I sit here looking at a pack of peace cigs. Although not my preferred brand, they are pretty good. I got eleven cigs left. After those are gone I will never smoke again. In fact, I am gonna have one now. Damn! It feels so good. I must admit that I will miss smoking. You know, once an addict always an addict. I think there should be support groups for people who have quit. In the states I am sure that such groups exist. In Japan, smoking is fully accepted. We all know the reason why smoking is so popular in Japan. The damn government owns the fucking tobacco company!

Anyway, in the back of my mind the tobacco demon is telling that I will lose some cool points. I know this is simply brainwashing from years of propaganda being feed to me by the tobacco companies and pop culture. I can hear the demon screaming at me even now. I will quit smoking god dammit! It is making my life shorter and having a big effect on my health. Yet, I will never give anyone shit for smoking. I will never agree with anti-smoking laws. I will always feel that people should have the right to smoke any place they choose. Who am I am judge? I have been a smoker for many years. It would be hypocritical of me to turn around and give others crap for smoking.

So, wish me luck in my quest to quit smoking. It will not be easy but I know I can do it. Hell, I am a greaser. I can do anything I want!

The Perfect Snack for the Commute to Work.

On my daily commute to work I usually stop at the little quick stop at Kita-Senju station, on the TX side, and grab a great little snack. I have only picked-up this habit over the course of the past month. I had been looking for a way to shake the shitty feeling of traveling to work by train for a while now. I tried drinking mass amounts of coffee, but that usually ended in me being way to wired for work.

Well, one morning I stopped at the quick stop, hungry as hell, and saw this odd looking snack. The price was right, only 168 yen, so I took a chance and bought one. As I walked to the Joban line at Kita-Senju station, I munched on this little snack. I was really surprised by how good it was. It is basically two prices of pork, or chicken, wrapped inside bread. There some kind of sauce which gives it a pretty good flavor. It really hits the spot!

I quickly became hooked on the stuff. Now, I find myself hitting up the quick stop almost everyday to grab one of these things. I have finally found a cure for the train ride blues. It fills my stomach and leaves me feeling right as white on rice. It is important that I show up for work in a good mood. If I show up feeling like crap, it is really hard for me to force a smile. I have been keeping this little golden nugget of Japanese snack food to myself;but now the cat is out of the bag. If you run across this odd, but tasty stuff, be sure to give it a try. It have been greaser approved for you eating pleasure. HaHaHa!

So, this is my entry for the February Japan Blog Matsuri. The J-blog Matsuri is a monthly collection of entries from several most excellent J-blogs. Next month The Ghost Letters will be hosting the Matsuri. Someone made the mistake of giving me control of the Japan Blog Matsuri. I am keeping the topic under wraps until around the first of March. This month the topic is food in japan. The host for February is Deas of Rocking in Hakata.

Need to Learn to Speak Better...Among other things

I have finally realized that I really need to learn to speak Japanese better. As of now, I can only say very basic things. This is not going to cut it if I plan on staying on Japan on a long term basis. I want to be able to communicate with people better. There are two things holding me back: motivation and time. When I try to speak Japanese I tend to get frustrated rather quickly. When Japanese people do not understand me I feel like a total idiot and give up. It is not a good habit to have when living in a nation in which my native language is not spoken by most people. I feel like I am being judged when speaking Japanese. I am the kind of person who get a little nervous when I know I am being judged. I must get over this fear if I am do speak Japanese better.

I have a few options for improving my speaking ability. There is this student of mine who teachers Japanese to gaijin. I think she does it at a very low or no cost. She loves my lessons and I think it would be no problem for her to teach me. I actually really like her as a person. She is kind and cares about other people. She is a rare person in this post-modern age. I think she may be a damn good teacher. I have considered asking her to teach me Japanese. My shyness about asking such a request has prevented me from asking her to teach me. I may very well ask her the next time she shows up for a lesson.

My other options are varied. I have tried getting the gal to teach me but that usually ends in total ruin. We simply do not click on teacher/student level. She has no skill what so ever at teaching. It is better just to use her as practice for words I learn. If she understands what I try to say then I consider it a good thing indeed. I did tried to take lessons from a private school but that did not work out so well either. My teacher was good but I could not learn from her. She did not give a shit if I learned anything or not. I think it was a part time job for her anyway. My other option is try and get in on those lessons that the Nerima ward is offering. I do not think I will go for that because I what I really need is a teacher I can make a connection with. I am one of those people who needs to make a connection with someone before I can trust and learn from them. So, it appears that my student is my best option. I trust her and she seems like a person who cares about gaijin learning to speak the Japanese language.

On some other notes of interest in my life; there are some things I may need to improve about myself. You see everyone, I got a problem with dealing with people. I have this chip on my shoulder that I will never be able to lose. I was raised pretty rough and that really shaped me as an adult. I tend to worry a lot about things that I know I should not give two shits about. This makes it hard to some people to get along with me very well. I would like to be a little more smooth but my roughness comes shining though every damn time. When people are polite to me and appreciate what I do for them, it is easy for me to show them my inner self. Sadly, most people are just real assholes. I do not take well to assholes. I have seen a lot of people who are able to charm even the biggest dickhead on the face of the planet. I just cannot do that so well. I also have a hard time dealing with cold people. You know the type, no matter how nice you are to them they just will not warm up to you. I must learn how to charm even the toughest cookie.

The other thing I would like to get better at is showing people that I care about them. Recently, I have been practicing this with the office lady at my base school. I really do care about her but I have been pretty bad at showing it. So, I have started doing little things. When I arrive at work I try to bring a little food for her. I bring a little something for her everyday. You know, a rice ball or something like that. Her English is not so good but she is able to get out a few thank yous. Wednesday she was able to explain to me that the rice ball I gave her was her favorite kind. It almost brings a tear to my eyes that she puts forth the effort to speak English to me. I know it is very hard for her to speak in English. I also have started telling her that she did a good job before I leave for the day. I think it will make her work a little more harder. There is something about her that troubles my brain. I guess that her life is a little more complex than she lets on. In another life she might be a greaser gal. Sometimes she smiles and laughs a lot. Although, there are other times when she does not smile at all and seems to be rather sad. I will take the time to get to know her a little better.

Anyway, maybe I am just a messed up person. I allowed myself to become too rough. It might be too late for me to chance so much; but I am gonna try anyway. My hard noise greaser ways have made me into a complex person. Yeah, a greaser is trying to care about other people. This should be funny for sure. I will always be just a fucking greaser. Hell, one day I should write a book about my life.