September 2nd

Thank God! We finally had a sunny day after what seemed an eternity of cool damp rainy weather. But it won't last, tomorrow is going to be cloudy and rainy and humid, my favorite type of day. The big news is the Japanese prime minister stepped down after less than a year in office. Yasuo Fukuda is the antithesis of what a leader should be. He was weak and easliy influenced by those around him. Unfortunately the next person in line will be worse. Taro Aso, great name, (don't you think) is a real hawk and and an ultranationalist. Say goodbye to any kind of relationship with either Korea or China.
It really amazes me how docile Japanese people are when it comes to politics. They have no problem with one politician stepping down and another taking over with no election or the people having any say in the matter. Hence they are often referred to as "sheeple". I hate that word, but I think in this case it really fits the bill. If I were able to vote I would be up in arms about what is going on in Japanese politics, and I am, for the most part. But when I talk to either students or othrs about these issues, they always say the same thing,"shoganai", which means it can't be helped. The government loses your pension records, shoganai. Governement officials swindle millions of dollars, using it for parties and taxis and other nefarious things, shoganai. They continue a punitive 25 yen gasoline tax to help there buddies over in the construction companies, shogania. I think that in many other countries there would have been some kind of coup by now, but not here in Japan. Anyway that is enough ranting for today.
I am pretty happy as I have now singed up four new students this week, and they all seem to be pretty nice, so I think I will enjoy teaching them. That's it for today.

September 1st

Well I am back at it starting from today. After a months holiday my school will re-open, and I decided that I will also try to write on this blog from today. Not much to report other than we have had without a doubt the shittiest weather on record since my coming to Japan. For the past two weeks it has been nothing but rain and cool temperatures. I don't care so much about the temperature, but man I am sick of the rain. I can't go biking or jogging, or even walking for that matter. Well, I can but I hate getting rained on. And I'm not talking about little showers either but torrential type rain.
I had my first class with the high school students, and that was as exciting as watching paint dry. I try to be enthusiastic and interesting but these girls, either are so stupid or ditsy, I'm not sure which. I tried to connect with them today by talking about 24 hour television that was just on over the weekend. I asked them about the lead singer of the group Arashi, and do you think one of them would help me out trying to remember his name. Thankfully my writing class went much better, but then again they are of a higher level, so these kids are going places.
Anyway that's it for the first blog. I hope there will be more to come, and I will do my best to keep writing each day. I'm not sure what direction this will take, or what kind of information I will add, but we'll have to see.