Saipan

Masashi was feeling beach-and-snorkeling withdrawal--we hadn't been in the water since Hawaii in December 2005! So we took a short trip to Saipan--compared to Hawaii, Saipan is closer (3 hours by plane), cheaper (even during Christmas), and there's no jet lag (only one hour time difference). And on top of all that, Christmas isn't the peak time, so we didn't have to plan months and months ahead, like we would for Hawaii.
We stayed just for four nights and three full days (with one day to get there and one to get back). It was wonderful--warm, even hot at times, with beautiful skies, and lots of bright, colorful fish. Since all we wanted to do was to relax in a warm place, it was perfect. And the food was good too, much better than Hawaii, where everything is too sweet. The picture above shows the beach in front of our hotel, Aqua Resort, and in the background you can see the small island where we went for snorkeling. On the left, you can see one of the main scenic spots on Saipan, overlooking Bird Island (which didn't have any nesting birds at this season.) It was also fun for me to be in a Christain country at Christmas time, to hear all the Christmas music on the radio and in the hotel lobby. We'll probably go back some day...

Hisashiburi (It's been a long time...)

I had a busy, busy semester, and so I didn't update my blog for a long time. It's almost the end of 2007, and so I thought I'd better put up at least a bit of news in case anyone ever reads this...

Everything is still fine here in Tokyo. It's the winter break, and I'm suffering with a nasty cold that I picked up while in Saipan (just a clogged head). Masashi and I are settling in for a quiet New Year at home with the cats, who are very happy we're back after 5 days away.
More about the trip in the next posting...

One of my worst nightmares...

It didn't happen to me, but now I know am right to be worried about it!

Several years ago now, when riding on a super-crowded rush hour subway train in Tokyo (one of those ones where the station workers push people into the train), I had a panic attack when I suddenly wondered what would happen if the train stopped for some reason and we were stuck in the train for awhile. I had to get off at the next stop, and since then I do anything to avoid those kinds of rush hour trains. These days, if I have to go to Shinjuku station in the morning, I take the bus--it's a 35 to 50 minute ride, in contrast to the 10 minute train ride, but I don't panic!

Anyway, on tonight's news, they reported that a crowded rush hour train stopped between stations due to some kind of problem. People were stuck in there for two hours before someone came to lead them out. It was in one of the newest subway lines, the Oedo line; because it's new, it's very deep underground (so it can run under all the other lines). I always feel nervous when I take that line because it's so far underground. Anyway, because it's so far underground, the ventilation is not very good--50 people fainted or had to lie down while waiting to be rescued, and 10 were taken to the hospital.

Anyway, now I feel that I am definitely right to avoid those trains!

Luckily, when I go to Waseda, I can take a train that isn't very crowded. I have to walk 25 minutes to the station (or else I can take a bus if I am in a hurry), but I can sit down on the train for the 10 minute ride.

Europe Trip

In the last month of my sabbatical, I went to Europe for two weeks.

I spent a few days in Brussels recovering from jet lag. It's a small city, with some beautiful old buildings and parks. This was my favorite park, dedicated to the various guilds that made Brussels such a thriving city.

Then I went to the Universite catholique de Louvain for the Learner Corpus Summer School. It was a very exciting week in which I learned a lot, and I met many linguist/language teachers from around the world. Now I have many ideas about what I will do next with the learner corpus I am creating at Waseda.


After that, I went to Brighton in the south of England to meet with Lynne Murphy, a professor at the University of Sussex, to discuss a project involving antonyms in Japanese. This photo was taken near her house.I knew that Brighton was by the sea, but I was surprised to find that it is quite hilly--and Lynne and her husband live up near the top of one.

~ ~ ~ Shaking ~ ~ ~

The typhoon is now hitting Tokyo. We're not yet in the highest wind speed range, but already the house is shaking quite a bit in the gusts, and the windows are rattling. I don't think there's any danger of the windows breaking (they are reinforced with wire in them), but I don't think I'll get much sleep tonight.

I'm supposed to be flying to Europe tomorrow on a flight that leaves at 11:30 a.m. The typhoon should be past here by then, so the plane will probably fly, BUT I am worried about whether I'll be able to get to the airport in time. I was planning to leave at around 6:30, but they are predicting that we'll still be in the center of the typhoon then, and in that case, there will be no trains running. I hope the typhoon just moves over faster than they expect.

Goodbye Mr. Hissy...

One of the two neighborhood cats has died. Mr. Hissy (a.k.a. Hissy-chan or Gray-chan) was found dead behind the neighbor's car yesterday. We don't know how he died exactly, but we (the neighborhood people who loved him) had been worried since we hadn't seen him much on Sunday and not at all on Monday. He was in a big fight with an evil orange cat on Saturday night and at first I thought that might have been what killed him, but other people don't think that is likely. Masashi thinks he was poisoned, either accidentally or deliberately. Many people in the neighborhood loved him, but a few people hate cats, especially if they are fighting noisily late at night.


Several people came by to see him last night as word spread of his death, and some people even brought flowers and treats to set around his body. But he was taken away just now by the city ward. They have special truck to come around and collect dead animals...just a job for them, but they were nice and not at all surprised by the flowers and treats.

The other cat, Mama-chan, is very lonely now, and has been crying a lot last night and today for me to come outside to pet her.

It's true that Hissy-chan was "just a cat", but he was a special cat. He was an unusual color, as you can see, and many, many people looked for him to pet him and talk to him everyday. When he'd hear the footsteps of one of his friends turning into our street, he would go running to meet them. We will miss him!

You can see more pictures of Mr. Hissy and Mama-chan in my June post.

~~HEAT~~~!!!

I'm back in Tokyo, enjoying (enduring?) the hot weather! For the first week or so, it was not too bad--high temperatures of 31 or 32 degrees Celsius (88 to 90 Fahrenheit). Even though it is quite a bit more humid here than in California, I didn't mind too much, and I didn't feel like I needed the air conditioning. But then Friday and Saturday, it got up to at least 36 degrees outside, and more than 33 in the house (dropping down to 30 or so at night). It was just miserable! When I tried to go to sleep last night without the fan, it was impossible--at midnight, it was still 33 degrees in the bedroom. SO we slept with the air-conditioning on (set to 29). But today it was better,, only about 32 outside and inside. Now I'm sitting here in the living room with just the fan.

I really hate using the air conditioner if I don't have to. Not only does it use electricity (and spew hot air into the air locally), it makes me feel somewhat sick if I am in it for too long. The fan is much better. I also have bottles of water and tea in the freezer. I take one of these out and put it against my forehead to cool off, and drink the liquid as it melts.