I Can See Clearly Now

It's Thursday, October 10, 1991 and I'm about to leave on a short excursion to check out Sendai with my ex-girlfriend Ashley.



I was trying to figure out WHY, very suddenly Ashley asked me to go with her. I think that a short trip to Nikko-shi she took with some of the other female assistant English teachers on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme may have elicited some information that may have made her jealous.



For example, she may have learned that newcomer Karen wants me as a boyfriend and that we had made out, or she may also have learned from Catherine (another newcomer), that she and I slept together.



Ashley and I, while no longer a couple, are still a couple of friends-with-benefits. The truth that other women found me desirable may have spurred her on to try and get back with me.



Maybe.



Or maybe I'm just company. But to be honest, being a friend-with-benefits doesn't not mean going on a vacation together - it just means sex together. At least that is what I understood our arrangement to be. Back in 1991, there was no such term as 'friends-with-benefits' or if there was, I sure as hell had never heard of it, what with being a 25-year-old virgin when I arrived here in Ohtawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan in  July of 1990 at the same same as Ashley.



Since arriving, I've been a bit of a dog. Whenever I haven't been a boyfriend to Ashley, I've slept with a lot of women. But still, since I hate losing, I want Ashley back. I'm so screwed in the head, eh?



Canadians say 'eh' at the end of their sentences apparently, as opposed to Americans who say 'hey' at the beginning of theirs. For example:

Canadian: "Get off the car, eh." Sounds polite, doesn't it?

American: "Hey! Get off the car." Not as polite.



Regardless... Ashley was at my place last night. Just sleeping. We get up at 8:30AM, pack my stuff up and then ride our bicycles over to her place. While she packs, I race back home to get my contact lens stuff that I had forgotten. It's only a 25-minute bike ride - each way between my city of Ohtawara and her town of Nishinasuno.



By the time I return, she's ready... so we ride out to the Nishinasuno-eki (Nishinasuno train station) go up a couple of stops on the local JR (Japan Rail) line to Nasushiobara-eki and the catch the shinkansen (bullet train) north to Sendai.



Ashley, of course, has no money and the banks are closed today for some reason, so I lend it to her until tomorrow. Like I said... if we were a couple, I'd have paid, but since we're not... it's share and share alike.



We get to our hotel in Sendai-shi (Sendai City). Not bad. Twin beds, though.



We toss our clothes down and go out walking in the rain. Whenever I travel in Japan, it rains, earning me the nickname of ame otoko (rain man).



We go to the remains of Aoba-jo (also known as Sendai castle) but first stop off at a nearby museum and look at the display of Edo era (1603 - 1868) weapons, masks, armour and clothes. It's fascinating!



Walking up a mountainous road, we arrive at Aoba-jo - or at least we arrive where it's supposed to be. The rain and humidity has created a dense fog, so I take a lot of foggy photos of the castle. I couldn't see a damn thing. We march back down the damn mountain road dejected.



Although it's no longer raining, the road is a bit slick, so Ashley holds onto my arm. See, I am good for something!



We then hike for 30 minutes to a McDonalds we asked a local about, buy some beer from a local liquor store and then head back to our hotel.



Ashley has developed some weird bumps on the right side of her head - like lymph glands. They weren't there this morning. They are painful to the touch. As such, we're not going to have sex. To make matters worse, my contact lens pick today to start bothering me. One of my eyes really hurts when I wear my contacts, and makes it uncomfortable



Somewhere not the right kind of wet,

Andrew Joseph

This blog's title is sung by Johnny Nash, and I chose it for its IRONY. 

PS: Click HERE for some photos of Sendai. Warning... I took them with a disposable panoramic camera, as my camera... well... you'll find out in a couple more blogs about my wonderful rife... Anyhow, I have no idea what any of these photos are of, or where exactly I took them...if anyone knows, I'd appreciate a heads up.

PPS: I out some goofy descriptions under the photos, except to show that it was raining, wet, foggy and that my eyes were bothering me.

Straight Shooter

It's Wednesday, July 17, 1991. Ohtawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan.

I'm especially tired today after last night's activities with Ashley, my ex-girlfriend with benefits.

While I don't have to go into work today, I do anyways, which surprises everyone at the OBOE (Ohtawara Board of Education) who seems to love my eagerness. I was told yesterday that I have 15 vacation days left and that I should use them immediately, but they re shocked that I would still come into work today.

To be honest, I have some JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme stuff to take care of. I'm preparing some welcome material for the new JET members who will be arriving in Japan at the end of the month. Even if I wasn't a part of the Tochigi-ken welcoming committee, I would have done something like this anyways... don't think I'm such a great guy or anything... my thoughts were it would be easier to meet the new women this way... this way I can be especially helpful, and have them follow me around while I flirt and hit on them with all of my sexual prowess.

For the new women here, I figure they will be lost. Lost because all of the new guys will be looking for Japanese women. That leaves me free to work my magic.

Work is still boring despite my plans for future sex.

After work, I go to kyudo (Japanese archery) with Kanemaru-san (one of my two bosses at the OBOE) and actually shoot at the real target. The larger target used by the junior level archers is missing (??) so I use the smaller real target the more experienced archers use. I also shoot from the proper distance of 60 meters. It's freaking tiny!

I come close a few times, but don't actually hit the target. My elbow and shoulder seems to have healed (I was hit by a car on two separate occasions while riding my bicycle) I actually have strength enough to pull the bowstring back  as far as possible and then hold it for 20 seconds while I correct my breathing before releasing it. It's all very zen.

The biggest problem I'm having with kyudo right now is that when I try to track the target to focus, my eyesight sees double. It's my astigmatism, which has been bad these past couple of months when I look at objects far away.

Still, because I shot at the real target tonight, I'm very excited.

I want to call up Ashley and tell her, but I don't really want her to know for some reason. Maybe it's because I want to catch up to her skill level and surpass her first.

As well... even though we are not back having sex, I don't really want her around. I guess I want my space, too.

Somewhere pulling a rabbit out of my hat,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by The Mamas And The Papas : CASS 

See The Light

Did you know that 17% of all Japanese have cataracts? 

Yes. It's true.

And the rest drive Rincorns and Chevrorets.

Somewhere burning in hell for that bad joke,

Andrew Joseph

Today's title is by: Jeff Healey - Good old Toronto boy who recently passed away. I was lucky enough to have seen him play about 12 times before he hit the big time. Not that it matters, he' s blind. LIGHT

PS: yes, it's a bad joke and yes it makes fun of 99.9% of the Japanese population's inability to pronounce the letter "L" properly.

PPS: No, the Japanese don't have cataracts any more than any other peoples.

PPPS: And no, they don't have a lot of Cadillac, Lincoln or Chevrolet vehicles, though there are a lot of Toyotas, Mazada (they call them Matsuda), Honda, Suzuki  and Nissan to go along with the odd Mercedes.

PPPPS:  I just needed a break to catch my breath with the blog. Real stuff tomorrow. 

Doctor My Eyes

At the time of this writing, I either have pink eye, allergies, or I've scratched my cornea. Back in 1991, while in Ohtawara, I scratched the old eyeball - probably by putting in and taking out my contact lenses.
Despite such a tiny thing, a scratch on the cornea is actually quite painful - it feels like there is grit under the eyelid - and every time one blinks - pain.
So... in Japan, I did what any one would do... I told my bosses at the Ohtawara Board of Education (OBOE) Hanazaki-san and Kanemaru-san about it six days later after they saw me wincing as I tried to wink at a pretty office worker.
They took me to the Ohtawara hospital. The doctor came out to see me with a lit cigarette dangling from his lower lip. He pulled the lower lid down, examined my eye (no gloves!) and told Kanemaru-san that I had a scratch on my cornea... of course it took poor Kanemaru-san about three minutes of deft dictionary work to relate that information to me--he would get quicker over the years, though.
The solution? Some strange purple powder given to me in a wax paper package and to tell me to rest my eye... that is, no contact lens wearing.
Crap! Thanks to a 20:800 vision, my glasses are as thick as my baby finger, and those are already the slim version of lenses... the distortion on them can hypnotize anyone who looks into my eyes. Hmmm... I think that could come in handy one day.

Every time I was sick in Japan, I was given opaque wax packets of some handy-dandy purple powder. I have no idea what it was, but apparently it's a panacea (cure-all) for everything! Pooping too much? Have some purple powder. Scratched cornea? Purple powder. Bruised ribs after a bike accident or two? Purple powder.
You can read about another hospital visit and the infamous purple powder HERE.
Anyhow... After one day of wearing my distortion hypno-glasses to school, where even the students who liked me were afraid, I decided to wear a single contact lens in the good eye and construct an eye patch for the other.

In fact, the home economics teacher at Ohtawara Junior High School cut up a piece of leather (probably from her own leather coat - she was so generous! I probably should have slept with her to properly thank her), and then sewed on a stretchy hair band I happened to have with me...
I always cared an extra length of stretch hairband rope in case my hairband broke...   at home in my apartment, I had rolls of black, red, blue and purple, figuring one of those colours would perfectly match whatever clothing I was wearing that day. Yes... I was probably a metro-sexual before that term became known.
 Obviously, the hairband was for my ponytail. By the way... the OBOE thought my hair look kakkoii (cool - it's pronounced kewl, though the Japanese might say "cah-coo-ee"). However, some other AETs were told by their respective offices: "Jim-san... your hair is getting long - perhaps it is time for a haircut."
Me? I was like Ferris Bueller. I could do no wrong with the OBOE.
So... I had to wear an eye-patch for two weeks... but here's the thing... my students thought I looked cool with the eyeptach. Some of the Japanese ladies at the 4-Carat bar where I hung out on the weekend in Ohtawara thought I looked cool. And, perhaps most importantly, I did too.
Ego... thy name is An-do-ryu. Anyhow... the two weeks passed, and I kept the eye-patch on - at least in public. In fact... I wore it for about five weeks longer than I needed to. It was hot and it was sweaty... but remember, it's better to look good than to feel good.

Somewhere squinting,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by Jackson Browne... see HERE for a video.
PS - As luck would have it, I scratched by cornea again about a year later. One word from a female AET I liked had me convinced that I didn't look cool enough for her to sleep with me... but once that eyepatch came off, I really caught her eye.
PPS: The photo above is a pirate mug (with lid) I purchased at Tokyo Disneyland when I was with Shinobu... whose tease was rated "Arrrrrrr." Read that one, me MATEY.