So Halloween was yesterday. I was in Ito at a speech contest (where a student from Yaizu Suisan took 2nd in the prefecture!) early in the morning, and was home just as the sun was setting. I took my usual route home from the station - that is the small side-street that runs parallel to the main drag. I can’t be bothered to ride next to big trucks and mopeds, not to mention the noise.

But, people are out trick-or-treating, sort of. There are kids in costumes, sure, and they appeared to be carrying bags of the evening’s spoils, but there was an odd element in the equation somewhere. It might have been the “halloween special” music playing on the street’s outdoor speakers (a halloween theme song, in English - of course - and it could’ve been written for the Macy’s parade). It might have been that the stores had made booths in the front and were selling, selling, candy. So those were mightily expensive bags of spoils.

I never stopped to investigate, as it was beginning to rain, so maybe the stores weren’t selling the candy, but they had the same set-up as at any festival (where you pay before you eat) that I’ve been to.

So after reading my brother’s blog and Alan’s blog, I’ve decided that I’m an overly selfish hedonist. The writers are always talking about how frustrated they are with the world around them: Palestine, academia, US politics, war, economic unrest…

Right now I’m aware of it and take a fairly Left (thank you, Alan) view of things, but that’s it. I don’t feel compelled to go about changing anything that I feel is wrong. I’ve grown complacent in my travels. Perhaps I’ve over-adapted to the tune of inaction. I know and like adbusters, and have all the good, balanced answers to many current events. But no action. Or maybe there are no leaders left to support out there.

Concurrently, I no longer have a Mer element in my life, so to speak. When we hung out, she was always questioning things and challenging the existing assumptions. I felt like my personal fibre was being accosted, and it was slightly uncomfortable. But it was the uncomfort of healthly inspection. Sure, I now believe that Mer had some naive thots about some things, but at the same time, her passion for oneday ideology was driving. And it was her pushing to be actively out spoken that I now miss and need.

So now what? I guess the first step is always recognition. But in a land where you can’t understand and be understood, there’s little left to do but stay aware. Go the Guardian.

Compounding things, there’s little fun here. I connect politically with a few folks around me (Aroop, Nick, Peter - none are American), but we only debate things and hash out all the details. That’s all well and good, but there’s some element missing. Since culture shock has begun, life feels like a 9-5 and living for the weekends. And the weekends are crap. People just go out and get drunk. I have a drink or two and then get sour that I cannot just let go and get stupid. It’s not enough.

Oh, and most of the other JET folks are wankers. It’s like a suburban parade whenever I meet with people outside the J-A-N-P clique. There’s a cool guy into philosophy named Brad, and fun American named Conaire, but a lot of people are bland as. Fake smiles, fake small talk, trendy clothes. Bollocks.

Now, back to the fake small talk. Sports day was on Friday. My school had a whole day of sports contests - tug of war, relays, other silly races. It was a good laugh and I snapped a few photos. Maybe I’ll post em after this.

I built a computer on Saturday for Nick. He bought all the parts (with some advice from me), and he let me put it together. It’s a pretty sweet system and was a good time to piece together. Too bad I had to put WinXP on it. Another one for the spyware baddies.

I didn’t feel any of the massive quakes over the weekend that devasted Northern Honshu. And the typhoon lost a lot of power by the time it reached us.

I voted today.

And I discussed politics with the Japanese wife of a Bangladeshi. The pair own and run a small (and amazing) restaurant called “Curry.”

All right, today I’ll discuss natural disasters.

Japan’s most powerful typhoon in the last decade hit on Saturday. I was at Aroop’s house, and when I returned, I found water on the floor of my kitchen (tho, I don’t know how it got there). I suspect from the drain of the kitchen sink.

At any rate, here are some concerns of mine…

This is a record year for typhoons in the recorded history of Japan. And that article was published before Saturday’s typhoon. So, add another!

But, people have been tosisng a few ideas around about the next big earthquake that will hit the Shizuoka region (the 150-year Tokai quake). The forerunner is that unusual weather always preceded a devastating quake. With a record number of typhoons, and a record summer heat wave, is the playing field set up for the Tokai quake that is predicted to be more than 16 times worse than the Kobe earthquake?

The second link for the typhoon records says that the last record year for typhoons was 1993, and Kobe was in January 1995. Hrm, there’s a weak correlation at least. At any rate, the quake will be a fun ride.

A nice relaxing week. A small cold, but everything was good.

I had my 4th typhoon on Wednesday, and it kept me from going to my free Japanese class. So, next week I’ll try again. Thursday was my 2nd Iadio training, and I like it a lot. The majoriy of my time this week has been in front of my computer, as now there are

PICTURES

in the gallery. huttah!

so, linkage? yes, I have it. Please go here.

that is all