Broadcasting to an audience of three (and a goldfish)... Comment, ramblings and musings... life through the eyes of a Japanologist...   Friday, June 14, 2002 Back to yakuba- asked to next party Place very full      Gekkin Live- presenter in shirt Made much of Hiroshima      To Momotaro- left early because called gaijin      No gappei      Nagareda- American anthem      After five, watched in head of office's room- head didn't even know what colour Japan was!      Back to office- general section empty Watched downstairs with 3 fifths Cheered when second goal went in      Snake      Watched first half with 5ths Interesting- Shinpan Nippon! Heard from staff-room Sanpan Yuusho      Etajima ES Angry with firsts- no stickers      It's fine to tease Nagareda-kun about drinking and so on, but he is my kohai- my junior- and as such, there's a responsibility to tell him what's actually the case. Which is why I've just taken him outside and explained the whole, sordid, truth. I think it's perfectly clear to him now that if he breathes a word of this to anyone, he'll never leave the island alive... Actually, he's already come fairly close to letting a fair proportion of the town know. When he gets excited he has a tendency to shout, and so when we were outside and I told him what went on, his first reaction was to shout, "Maji de?"- something like "You're joking!". We were on the first floor, so I had to warn him quickly about the fact that there were probably people smoking outside on the ground floor, who could hear what we were saying. "Careless talk costs lives"...      If you've read 'The Firm' by John Grisham, then you'll know what I'm talking about. When you first start working here, it all seems nice and normal, but then, bit by bit, you learn the full truth... Well, the new chap in the office took one more step to full integration into the office (and all of its arcane secrets) this morning, when he discovered the whisky bottle left in the bin for empty drink cans. Well, this is all an open secret, and basically the office turn a blind eye to it, but Nagareda-kun held the bottle in the air and asked- in a very loud voice- "Who's been drinking, then?" Luckily, the person in question wasn't around at the time... The amusing thing, though, is that given Nagareda-kun's obvious hangover yesterday, it was a simple matter to turn the whole thing round and suggest that in fact, it was he who had been drinking. I even came within a few seconds of getting a picture of him with the bottle in his hand! Anyway, he's now sitting with the bottle on his desk. I think this drinking thing might be a joke with quite a bit of mileage in it...!      Of course, there's something else to be decided today, too. Japan and Tunisia... I wonder how much work will get done after 3 o'clock this afternoon?      So, it turns out today is the day. The Town Council in Nomi is meeting, and one of the items (if not the major item) is whether or not to go ahead with the amalgamation of the four towns...      Speaking of Blair's promise- or would 'threat' be a better word?- to visit Japan, there was another interesting article in the Daily Telegraph this morning...      Today is the anniversary of the surrender of the Argentians on the Falkland Islands.      © Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth. Updated: 8/1/03; 8:07:56 pm.

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