In an effort to restructure my daily life..

I came up with a daily 'schedule' of sorts to keep myself busy in the immediate days after Al leaves Tokyo. In the past two months, my evenings and weekends were occupied, taking Al around, eating out, or just hanging around at home and watching a movie. With him leaving, however, it empties out my evenings and weekends, especially when I don't have any middle school basketball games to coach. Thus..

Mondays: 3-5 Afterschool help/Tutor; 5-7 Gym/Pool
Tuesdays: 3-5 Basketball; 5-6 Yoga
Wednesdays: 3-4 Tutor; 4-6 Girl's Soccer; 6-7 Pool
Thursdays: 3-5 Basketball; 5-6 Yoga
Fridays: 3-5 Basketball; 5-6 Gym
Saturdays: Morning Yoga

In addition, I plan on studying an hour of Spanish, an hour of economics, and an hour of IR every night--this should put me at around 10pm to go to bed. I think I'll start adding brown rice into my diet, more fruit, no junk. I also need to get back into practicing for my auditions again.

This should keep me busy for a while.

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Photos!

Finally they are available for viewing! Check out my flickr site for a full range of photos from the charity event!
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I'm a Counselor-Idealist

While printing a series of recent periodicals on international relations theory, inter-Asian relations, and the legacies of the Cold War, I took a personality test--the Myers-Briggs personality test--for fun. It claimed that I was a Counselor-Idealist, someone who thinks in terms of ethical values and morals, and look to maintain and improve the welfare of others. We Counselor-Idealists, unfortunately, constitute only 2% of the total population.

Besides being a true introvert--"who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious 'soul mates'"--and difficult to get to know, Counselor-Idealists have intricate, complex, and thus mysterious personalities that often surprises others. This is, however, not to say that we are inconsistent; on the contrary, we value our integrity, and it is just that we find it hard to reveal the entirety of us all at once. We are apparently also very good writers (right).

Furthermore, we are 'mind-readers', in the sense that we are often keenly aware of other's thoughts and sentiments before such are verbally expressed:

Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another's emotions or intentions--good or evil--even before that person is conscious of them. This 'mind-reading' can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others' feelings so keenly. [...] [Counselor-Idealists] readily grasp the hidden psychological stimuli behind the more observable dynamics of behavior and affect.

As a result, we are not easily fooled by others and are always questioning the motivations of those around them.

Pretty true? Perhaps.

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One day..

This summer I am visiting Peru to do a 4-day hike up Machu Picchu. Al and I booked a tour with the same company Colleen and Gemma had booked through last summer; they said they had a great time and enjoyed themselves very much, so we figured their experience was a good sign. I adjusted my half-around-the-world flights so that I fly out of Tokyo on 7 August, arrive in Lima on the same day, from where I would take a flight to Cusco on 8 August. I would leave Lima for Washington D.C. via Miami on 17 August, and leave for Heathrow International on 17 September. Tokyo - Lima - D.C. - London. That's a fair amount of traveling, right?

But, in my most honest moments, I feel that it really isn't enough. If it were not for my parents' full objection and my lack of total financial independence from them for my graduate school expenses, I would have taken up the backpacking trip through Chile, Bolivia, and Peru in an instant. And I was almost on my way to New Zealand this March, but this didn't happen either because of the amount of cash it required. And I am SO envious of my friend Sarah who is travelling to India this month. If only, if only!

Conclusion? (Lack of) Money sucks balls.

I digress. My point is that traveling in order to live within different cultural environs is a secret, and thoroughly restrained, desire--perhaps an obsession?--of mine that has only been sporadically appeased. If I hadn't been accepted to any of the graduate programmes, my back-up plan was to apply for a job teaching at an international school in Guatemala--what a life I would've lived there! I have not a clue as to how I convinced my worrisome mother into letting me travel alone to Italy at the age of 18, but I did, and it was wonderful. So wonderful that, I took up the Italian language in university and used Italy as a focus topic in most of my studies. My decision to go to Canada for my undergraduate degree, in hindsight, seems like one based on the fact that I would live 4 years in another country.

Somedays I wish that I were able to drop everything and all my responsibilities to go around the world and become a photojournalist. As if this idea hadn't been thought of before! My current desires lie in a trip from Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia on the Trans-Siberian Railway. But really, when could I do such a trip? I couldn't do it anytime this year. It would have to come after I finish obtaining my MSc degree from LSE, perhaps on my way back to Tokyo from London--it is cheaper to do that than to fly. How awesome would that be!

I just want out of this place. And what the hell, if I'm coming back to Tokyo ever again, I'll do it via Russia and Mongolia.
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A splashful afternoon

Apparently we raised $1,000. At the start of the event, we had raised about $500 so the final number came to me by surprise.

The donations collected from the charity event, called Mustang Splash!--named after our school mascot--was for Dr. Tadashi Hattori, who devotes his time and money in providing eye surgeries and care for those without the funds to do so in Vietnam. Apparently he was also awarded an appreciation letter from the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam not too long ago. The 5th grade classes in the elementary school headed a project called the "Global Responsibility Prize," in which they chose someone in the world who lived by the school vision: Developing compassionate, inquisitive learners prepared for global responsibility. Dr. Hattori was the chosen candidate.

The event went well. A few hiccups at the beginning, because there was quite a large mass of elementary school kids running around, and it was the first time that these high school kids who were working with me would experience moving masses of people through a system, but all in all I think it was a great experience for them and most of them enjoyed doing it. We had to get some Varsity swimmers to swim for teams as they were lacking swimmers, and some of them really didn't like that, but I guess that's the nature of high school kids; Al put it well enough: "That's what they do. They don't enjoy themselves in any school setting." I will upload some photos from the event as soon as I can on my flickr site.

**Postscript**
I suppose I could've made the event a simpler set-up. I could've advertised, "Open Donations for Open Swim Time. Pool's open until 5pm." Or even, "Diving Contest!! Bet for the biggest Cannonball!!" But, alas, no. The event was a full-fledged relay party complete with heats and race times and registration tables and even marshal areas. I had 6 high school students working with me, putting together promotion efforts and creating signage and on the day of, managing a huge mass of people--kids, to be perfectly accurate. At the end of it all, when I finally arrived home and sat down to reflect, the first question on my mind was, "Was that really necessary?"

When I worked for REC at U of BC, this question was never asked because I was hired by an organization to do the work. But here and now, the logistics of Mustang Splash!! was something I just came up with, and no one--well, save the head coach who did not (and does not) know how to trust others to do their work--really stopped me or the kids from pursuing our 'big plan'. What really triggered me into questioning the event's necessity was the attitude of some adults present at the event that this was their doing because it was their idea and they just adored themselves in the spotlight of things. At that moment a certain skepticism came over me, and I questioned the 100+ hours of preparation work that went into putting the thing together, and whether this emotional distress from knowing that certain people considered the event to be their--and wholly their--achievement was worth it. I have yet to arrive at a satifactory answer.

Additionally, I felt like doing something upsetting or destructive like spilling coffee over a white, freshly-ironed shirt (that is quite truly upsetting on Tuesday mornings) when I read an email that thanked all the faculty and staff involved in the preparation and/or participated in the event. I was sick to the stomach to see that, in this mass school email, there was no mention of the kids who helped put it all together--no, that would apparently take place during practice today and I was to "[h]elp [her] think of good word choices tomorrow to put a positive spin on everything they did today." And how many faculty and staff were out there who helped put this together? There can't be that many because I never saw a single adult face in any of my planning meetings. Support, yes; energy, yes--and we were totally grateful for that. But planning and execution? Absolutely not. Those were the kids and they deserve a mention, and definitely something more than in a mass-email.

Some people make me sick.
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NEW - the fiasco artier

Completely out of pure boredom, I decided to create another blog completely devoted to academics. It is titled, the fiasco artier. There is not much to say about the title, but that it was a difficult decision made between it and "The Fiasco Rhyme-Riot Trio" and "The Fiesta Mayor Choir." The final call was made on the idea that the shorter it was, the better.

You see, a few posts ago I said something about giving U.S. history a second chance. If you know me at all, I despise U.S. history because it was so boring when I was forced to take it in high school. But when I opened the late AP U.S. history textbook, I realized that I have to take notes. I have this habit of not being able to learn unless I take notes, but I didn't want to take notes via handwriting, and I didn't want to bring my laptop to work everyday, so I decided to make it web-based and the logical conclusion was, of course, to create another blog. Don't know how long this one will last, but the last time I claimed that I wouldn't last 3 days, I proved myself wrong by continuing for almost a year, and besides, no one reads it anyway, so who cares. Additionally, this will come into good use when I start my thesis for my MSc.
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Just a space-holder entry.

Because, not much has been going on. I've been working hard on putting together the final details and such to Mustang Splash 2007. The task is not made any easier when you are working with other 'older' adults who seem to have a hard time at letting things take their place, knowing that you can't possibly control everything, and that sometimes you need to trust other people to do their job. The last trait is not often found amongst adults anyway, and it's not like I was born with that trait either (and I still can't, sometimes), so I understand that it's difficult to just 'let go'. I just gotta say though, it's quite tiring when I have to repeat myself over and over again, answer the same questiosn, and go through all the planning and the details of the event--for the third time!!--because it takes a long time to explain it all. Each time I give a more succinct, if not simply 'cut down' version of it. Well, I guess this is what it's like to work in The Real World.

Al and I have been trying to fit in little excursions within and beyond Tokyo, and it's quite wonderful being exposed to parts of Tokyo that I never knew existed. I mean, I guess I did know that they existed in some sense, but I didn't ever take the time to see them or observe them while I lived here before university. Tokyo still bothers me in all its hussling speed and organized chaos, the carbon monoxide-filled air (although, not as bad as it was Beijing), the noise pollution, the mass-consumerism, the anonymity of people combined with a certain superficiality that is always maintained to ensure that no one is offended and thus, everyone knows quite nearly nothing about the person they ride the transit with everyday. In fact, they wouldn't even realize that they do.

So, it was really nice to escape all that this past weekend when Al and I hiked out to the edges of Tokyo, although it would be quite the overstatement to say that it was the fringe of civilization. For me this was a hike through Mount Takao, but for Al it was a walk because, according to him, "On hikes you don't have these vending machines or these little souvenir shops." I looked around me on a path that Al would deem at the most a 'pseudo-trail', the shops, the vendors, the vending machines, and people--people in Converse shoes, or even some others in heels. Alright, I suppose I can buy that argument.

In between all the mini-trips, the hours of coaching, and the 'on duty' obligations, I've managed to start practicing for my symphony auditions this coming September. This has also been a collection of pleasant moments. I can feel my rustiness slowly wearing off as I spend hour after hour toiling at the notes for my xylophone solo, and when I play Tchaikovsky 4 on my iPod and attempt to play the timpani along with it. My biggest challenge so far has been Scheherazade's snare drum part. It is so damn fast! Hopefully I'll get there in time..
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the airline industry

When you ask for a flight from City A to City B, you expect a flight from City A to City B with maybe the occasional stopover. Less frequently do you expect two, or even three, stopovers in order to reach one destination. Well, American Airlines gave my boyfriend two stopovers thousands of miles apart, and when we asked them to change the date of the flight, they decided that they would charge him fees for having to change all three flights. The cost? It would've amounted to $310. Ridiculous!

So for a short period of time I thought that maybe I would be able to visit New Zealand to shorten the 5-month separation time, but alas, not anymore. I was even prepared to take an unpaid leave because the only return flight I could get from Auckland to Tokyo at the end of March was a business class seat, bound to arrive in Tokyo on 2 April--of course, the day that school reconvenes. The Faculty Handbook clearly states that

Personal leave or unpaid leave may not be used the day before or the day after a school vacation or a long weekend for the purpose of extending the vacation or weekend.

Due to 'extrenuous circumstances' the principal was going to try to get me one day of unpaid leave. Well, that seems no longer necessary.

Long-distance relationships are difficult because they challenge both parties to maintain an undying, unfloundering loyalty and, more importantly, trust for each other. Unfortunately this trust is like the First Pig's house of hay. It takes so much effort to build once, and it may withstand some natural elements, but at the end of the day it is quite frivolous, and one substantial blow! reduces it to rubble. It must be built up all over again. The second time is harder; with the falling of the walls came the falling of a certain trust in oneself that you could accomplish things. So you must first build self-trust, and then rebuild the trust you had for the other. This, needless to say, takes a long time and a fortituous spirit of persistence.

Being a fairly weak person in spirit the abovementioned task has proven to be quite difficult. I suppose it is just one of those things you have to work hard to get, because it takes a long and difficult fight before you get to keep some of the best things in the world. I just get tired sometimes of putting up a good fight for it.

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Moving.

My new subdomain is "foresightedthorn"
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Master of Social Science, Global Politics

So I finally went against my initial desire to go to SOAS.

It wasn't an easy decision. In fact, it was probably the most difficult decision I've had to make in a while. The money factor is still nudging my on my side, reminding me how expensive the programme is. But, after all, it is an investment. A Masters of Social Science degree in Global Politics will hopefully take me further and open up a lot more options in my future than a Masters of Arts degree in International Studies and Diplomacy. Being a bigger school, it will provide me with ample opportunities to meet people and make connections. I would get a taste of academia and it would also allow me to pursue a postdoctorate later on in a similar field if I so desired, whereas SOAS' MA degree doesn't have a PhD option.

Congratulations me for deciding. Finally.
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STILL Undecided.

I think I've managed to slice off KCL for the time being. I am concentrated on LSE and SOAS. At the very moment I could care less which one I go to; I was leaning towards LSE all day but then I know that the programme at SOAS is pretty near-perfect to what I'm looking for. And they say that SOAS is famous in the IR/politics sphere espeically if you are working in Asia or Africa. Sigh. This seems like it is getting no where!

On a different note, I am currently working on putting together an event called Mustang Splash!! It is a charity swim meet hosted by our Varsity Swim Team, and it's also my very first event in which I play full facilitator. Quite exciting. Registration forms have been made and are waiting to be passed out, promo-team is on their way, a venue map completed, and most of the event has been planned out to the details. Good stuff. I've missed doing this.
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LSE vs. SOAS vs. KCL

Now, the Big Question.

I realize, first off, that it is an enormous privilege to be able to think, "LSE, SOAS, or KCL?" I wasn't expecting to face this situation so I am definitely not prepared to decide...just yet.

My former high school teacher, an LSE alum, says, "Definitely LSE. Not only is it a great school, its brand name will take you far along. Sure, we're stuck up but we have reasons to be. After all, 56 of the world's presidents are all LSE alums." That's great. Another teacher, a SOAS alum, says, "SOAS. No question. LSE's a great school, but for what you're looking to study, I think SOAS is your school." And KCL has a famous department, that of War Studies. The one and only of its kind in the UK.

Ok, so here are the hard facts:
LSE: 12,936 pounds sterling for the MSc Global Politics programme. A bit on the expensive side for me, but I suppose it is a price to pay for the quality education and the brand name. Bigger school, more people. Very probably elitist, but like Bapi says, I suppose they have every reason to be. The programme itself is fairly broad. A very thorough and comprehensive overview of how global politics function. Possible courses include Ethnic Diversity and International Society, Institutions and the Global Environment, Globalization and Democracy, National and Ethnic Conflict Resolution.

SOAS: 10,450 pounds sterling for the MA International Studies and Diplomacy programme. Originally my first choice. The least expensive of the three. I hear they are more laid back than the rest of the University of London colleges, and it is substantially smaller than the other two. The particular programme is diplomacy-heavy, with a practical element to it that the other two lack. Also, in addition to a course on general diplomatic practices, my course includes a whole unit on international law, and the international politics of Asia. But then, I do read a lot of people slandering SOAS for a lack of freedom of expression... which is interesting for its unaccountability, but this could be highly problematic for a person who hates having her freedom restricted.

KCL: 11,000 pounds sterling for the MA International Peace and Security programme. Didn't think I would get into this one, but what the hell, I did. Not as expensive as LSE but more expensive than SOAS. Lack of residence halls that I like. The programme itself is focused on the functions of international law in preventing conflicts and securing peace. There is an optional course on the proliferation of weapons, or diplomacy, along with several others of interest. The key is that KCL's Department of War Studies is the best of its kind in all of UK. I like how this one combines law and politics, whereas LSE doesn't seem to...as much.

Fuck.
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hurrah! part 2

And then, a teacher whose maiden name used to be "Fujimoto" handed me a package and said, "I think this is yours."

Apparently, SOAS also says, "YES!"

MA International Studies and Diplomacy. Oh my.
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hurrah!

King's College London, School of Law sent a nice package and said, "YES!"

MA International Peace & Security!
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Happy 2007!!

As the days pass by in the new year, I keep forgetting that it is now 2007. It always takes me a while to get used to writing the correct year.

Al flew in on the 29th, and we didn't manage to make it to Daniel's gig. Oh well. Since his arrival, we have visited a couple temples to take part in end-of-the-year/new-year festivities, and eat a whole bunch of things without feeling like throwing up. It's a good start. I don't think he's used to Japanese germs, though, and his constant sniffling is a case in point.

I hadn't been to Jindaiji in years. I can't remember when was the last time I had visited this neighborhood temple. We took a good bike ride down to Jindaiji on the 31st--ohh and it was COLD!!--and did the whole ordeal: walked through the gates, waved incense smoke on our heads, walked up to the shrine, threw in a couple 10 yen coins, clapped our hands twice, and bowed. Then we continued to walk through the temple, people-watching, mostly, and drank some tea while munching on some dango (small dumplings on skewers).

Tonnes of people were lined up at Ookuni-tama-jinja on New Year's Day to pray for health, success, and happiness in the coming 365 days. Many brought last year's charms to burn in a huge bonfire, and replace them with new ones appropriately fashioned for this year. In order to keep the sanpaisha (lit. "the pray-ers") happy while they waited in line, stands were lined up on each side to serve them warm beverages and food cooked on the spot. Al and I took part in this mass, and happy, consumerism by eating a plate of takoyaki. It was such gooey-goodness.

Today we are heading out to Shibuya to observe the so-famous Tokyo masses. Check back for pictures.
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A Christmas discovery

(cont'd: And then on actual Christmas Eve...)

It's worth about $500, but costs $20 each and it's possibly the best find I've had in years. It's the Orchestra Musician's CD-ROM Library!

Late last night I was trying to come up with the easiest, cheapest way to compile all my audition materials for the University of London Symphony Orchestra. What I really should've done was to keep photocopies of the parts I had played or come across at UBC, like the xylophone part for Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon Overture. Fuck. I hate it when I regret not doing something due to a mere lack of foresight. Dammit. In any case, I spent a couple hours looking up the library catalogues of major schools of music in Tokyo, but only found scores and no parts.

Then, on Sheetmusicplus.com, I coincidentally came across a CD-ROM series titled, The Orchestra Musician's Library. The CD's basically contained printable PDF files of sheet music by part, so all I had to do was buy a CD that featured my instrument, the composer I needed, and his entire discography would be accessible. I didn't think such a compilation would be possible!! This was like someone gathering all of my audition parts for me, photocopying them, and handing it to me.

I was, for the first time, glad that these composers have been dead for centuries (apparently copyright law doesn't apply after a certain period?).

The audition materials: I inquired the ULSO because the percussion materials weren't listed, and they promptly replied that percussion was by application only, and I will be notified of what they will expect me to play when I apply in September 2007. Well, as we all musicians know, 9 months is a long time to go without playing, and is (I figured) just enough time to prepare for a major audition. There was no way I was going to wing the audition completely unprepared. Plus, this would give me a good of a reason as any other to start practicing again. I found out via Google that most auditions require 1 keyboard, 1 snare drum, 1 timpani. At higher levels they require an excerpt and a rudiment piece of each. At still higher levels they require specific excerpts for xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tambourine, triangle, timpani, and 1 xylophone solo and 1 multi-percussion piece. Good thing I found that out because that is a lot to prepare for.

So my selection?

Xylo solo: G.H. Green, Log Cabin Blues
Xylo: Shostakovich, Golden Age Ballet: Polka
Glock: Debussy, La Mer
Vibraphone: Bernstein, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Snare: Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade: Mvt. 3 & 4
Cymbals: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4
Bass drum: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 or Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
Tambourine: Dvorak, Carnival Overture
Triangle: Bizet, Carmen Suite: Mvt. 2
Timpani: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4
Mulitperc: Tagawa, Inspirations Diabolique

This, to say the least, could be really interesting..

Merry Christmas! It is the 25th as we speak, and I am blogging. meh.
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Tokyo Parties

(So what did I do the night before Christmas eve?)

Last night I went out to a party with Shiori and our friend Mifumi: a Japanese house party!! When the talk of going to a house party first came up, I hesitated. I knew that house parties in Tokyo weren't really house parties. Images of one high school 'house party' flew into my head. I had gone to only one and never wanted to go back to another house party thereafter that because of what made (broke?) the party: marijuana, cans of beer, and lots of high kids, with the night ending with some passed out in the bathroom, others passed out on couches and anything soft, and still others making out et al in the master bedroom(s). That certainly was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of the night. Despite my hesitation, we decided to go and find Mifumi first and play it by ear.

What I encountered there was something interestingly different from any house party I had been to, in Tokyo and Vancouver. My idea of a 'true' house party usually took place at someone's house and the host would be drunk by the time any of the guests arrived; there might be a keg or two; with enough alcohol and some good music there would be dancing; and most importantly, the night ended with people leaving the house to go elsewhere to drink more, dance more, or make out (more), and rarely did people stay until the next morning.

Well, this particular house party was different in a few ways. First, the house was rented out. Meaning, the host of the party--or anyone else at the party for that matter--wasn't a resident of the house. This was probably the weirdest concept to me. Secondly, music came briefly from a CD player and then was replaced by the more entertaining karaoke machine that people didn't hesitate to use. Thirdly, everything was kept relatively clean. This I liked very much, especially the clean and unsticky floors. Fourthly, I realized that Japanese girls appealed to men differently than did North American girls, mainly in that the fantastical was synonymous with the sexy. Shoulders, cleavages, legs, stomachs--all of these main spots were completely covered by a nice formal dress that underscored their 'girliness' (which is significantly different from the western feminine). Shiori had jeans on and I had a pair of khakis, and both of us wore a white spaghetti strap tanktop. Needless to say, in our uber-casual outfits we felt like bums surrounded by girls who were, for all intents and purposes, dressed formally. When a group of girls joined the party in Santa-girl outfits--with all erogenous zones covered, of course--this was welcomed by a slew of whistling. Shiori and I looked at each other, slightly confused.

Right: Roppongi, party central>
Don't get me wrong: the party was fun. There were two guys dressed in reindeer costumes, alcohol was amply served, and the people were fun, if only to watch. It was the first time in years--possibly the first in my life--to have partied with native Japanese people who didn't necessarily speak English. Although I must admit, I didn't end up leaving my comfort zone too long, as I mainly stuck with people who spoke English and Japanese. When that party began to dwindle a bit, we moved our venue to a club, in Roppongi. In my opinion the Caprice, or even the Plaza was a better club, and they weren't really that great, either. The club was far from being a Celebrities. More like Lola's or Loft.

We stayed out until 4 in the morning, which I hadn't done in a while (Vancouver clubs closed at 2am at the latest), and by the end of the night (early morning) I comfortably sat on a bench by the dance floor with a glass of amaretto on rocks. I was used to doing this with Alicia, and it was too bad she wasn't there with me to enjoy the view. By that hour I noticed that there were lots of African Americans dancing with Asian girls. As these girls were skimply dressed, I felt kind of at 'home', which was also a weird realization. The man dancing in front of me had small holes in his sweater, as if it were used to extinguish cigarette lights. Two men approached me and I told them politely that I would rather sit there than dance with them, and they were politely offended. There was even a man at least 50 years old, hitting on a girl at least 20 but no older than 25--this was disturbing; he must have a lot of money, I judged, from his clothing. Girls here, I also observed, had no clue how to dance. They awkwardly shifted from left to right, and the hardcore ones who wore shorts and midriffs and fishnet stockings and black hooker boots danced in a overtly sexual way and could not be considered to be, in any sense of the word, attractive.

I'm exhausted.
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Consumerfest!

"I heard that Christmas isn't really big in Japan. It makes sense because it's not a Christian country," my friend recently commented.

Well, actually, take this: if Christmas were a multinational company like Starbucks Coffee (it might as well be), it would make a good portion of its total annual profit from Japan (Starbucks does). Despite the lack of an apparent Christian culture, Santa-day is a major festival--a consumer festival. Much like in North America, red and green decorations begin to adore the streets, shop windows, staff uniforms, gift wrappings, and whole sides of department stores (the Japanese mall) starting the beginning of November. Baby-faced idols and models--male and female--begin to wear white fluff and Santa costumes and their faces are posted up on pretty much every legitimate building facade. Major downtown areas like Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku are bright with LCD Christmas lights, and LCD Christmas lights only because a few years ago there was an activist movement that condemned the bright, old-school Christmas lights for their contribution to light pollution and hurting the trees.

At the time I couldn't help but notice that as the night went on, the activists' paper banners condemning Christmas lights could only be recognized via the glow from the neon banners above.

Tokyo is not like Vancouver, in the way that it is unlikely that one would come across any major churches downtown or anywhere else. There are, to be sure, some substantial Christian populations here; believe it or not there are missionaries floating amongst the crowds. But, they are hardly seen. Candle services and masses on Christmas Eve/Day are only attended by the most stringent of Christians. Oh, but you can't forget about the street preachers. These street preachers are holding large white pickets in major downtown areas that say, in black font, such heart-warming stuff like "God knows the truth" "Reconnect with God" and my favorite, "You are a sinner." One or two men are often talking into a megaphone, claiming how sinners will die and those who reconnect with God will live eternally after Judgment Day. They are not shy to insist conversion upon 'sinners' walking by and through them, carrying bags from GAP and Gucci. "Be saved by God," they insist. Most people just laugh.

Christmas is huge here. But unlike in North America, it is very rarely a family occassion, but rather, a couple's occassion. If you're single during these two days, it is just another reason to drink your head off and forget about keeping your liver and kidneys. Families with young kids will most likely do the family version of Christmas, and the aged population will just sit at home and not do much but watch TV, but the majority in between eats, drinks, sings, buys hugely expensive gifts for their partners, and gets laid. People who didn't have sex on Christmas Eve were probably just too drunk or too drugged out to perform. People who didn't do any of that were probably working. Funny country.
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The L.S.E.

Need I say more? To whomever spends their precious time reading my blog, I am now one step closer to having a pint in London (not that I could ever finish a pint, let alone half)!!!

MSc Global Politics, baby.

*I dance*
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41st President of the United States

Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures. But as you can see from the photo, the Secret Service certainly didn't stop first graders to sneak (?) a shot via his camera-phone! The handful of people who were allowed to carry a camera on them into the Ricketson Theatre were mostly journalism-related, professionally or via the school (you can see more pictures if you follow this link). Every so often you can hear the ring-a-ling of kids' phones snapping a shot of their former President. Well, I didn't get photos but it doesn't change he fact that I was literally 2 feet away from a former leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world.

He spoke mainly of very broad topics in a humourous, approachable manner; of values and goals, motivations and aspirations--rightfully appropriate topics for a middle school crowd. The appx. 100 high school students and teachers' civil rights were trampled on by a declaration earlier in the week, which prohitibted us from asking questions or commenting on anything during the President's speech. Don't ask me why this was done, because I haven't a clue.

An old man, this former 41st President of the United States. I sat in the third row from the front, and observed that there were signs of age and years of experience in the way he talked, the way he stood, the way he gazed over his microphone, and especially in the way he would turn and look at his wife, the former First Lady, or, in the President's words, "the silver fox."

I never thought I would ever meet a former 'world leader'. In combination with Herbie Hancock from last week, I've had some unexpected events pop into my life this past month or so. I guess you could never tell what happens in life.
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