Boredom

Hello,

I don't really have anything to report at the moment. Just blogging due to lack of anything else to do. I spent most of today trying in vain to learn some kanji, then gave up and watched some Japanese rugby on TV. "Three months in Tokyo" sounds like such an exciting prospect - I didn't expect a single dull moment, let alone a whole day of such mind-numbing ennui. My original plan for tomorrow was to do the same as today, viz. stay at home all day and study, but for the sake of my sanity I've decided to go and do something fun in Tokyo. I'm pretty ill-informed about what there is to do there, so I'm just going to get off at a randomly chosen tube station and start wandering around. My tall, blonde and Swedish fellow homestay said he was eager to join me.

Before you start worrying about me, let me assure you that my life out here is in general quite fun - it's just today that's been rubbish. Last night I had dinner with a charming young lady named Sakiko. She's a music student, she's in a band and she knows lots about obscure western bands, so we had a lively discussion about music. After a while I got too tired to speak Japanese properly, so the last half hour of the conversation went along the lines of:

A: Ettoooo... [band name] o shitteiru? (Umm... do you know [band name]?)
B: Aa, shitteiru! Ii desu ne. (Yes! Good, aren't they?)
A: Sou da. (Yes.)

On Wednesday I survived my second earthquake. This one was a big'un! It was Richter 6.2, although that's only a measly 3 on the more hardcore Japanese scale. It was really good fun, although it's existentially unsettling when certain assumptions you've made about the ground not moving turn out to be false.

It seems that I won't be able to partake of cult beef tomorrow night. The cult members rang the French guy to tell him where the beef would be, but he vetoed the whole thing. Sorry to disappoint. It seems that the old proverb, "never trust a Frenchman to help you join an insane religious sect" has some truth to it.

By the way, I'd encourage you to use the word "jaa" as much as possible. It's Japanese for "in that case...". I've found that round these parts you can say it in as Jamaican an accent as you please, without anyone raising an eyebrow.

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When things start shaking,
Run to the nearest doorframe
And say the word "jaaaaaa!"