Cathy's Clown

If yesterday was any indication of how my second-year in Japan was going to be - what with a another guy trying to poach a woman I was talking to - then hold on to your hats, o reader... things get interesting.

It's Sunday, September 22, 1991 here in Ohtawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan... I'm an assistant English teacher on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme... and I spent most of the first year in a committed relationship with Ashley, a woman from Augusta, Georgia in the USA, whom I met on my second day here. Whenever she would break up with me... some other woman would magically show up at my door willing to take her place.
It's sounds like pure fantasy... but let me assure you that what I write here is true. I'm not the best-looking guy in the world, or the smartest or the funniest... and as I'm sure you can all attest, I am hardly the best writer in the world... but there's nothing wrong with being second-best.
Perhaps by accident, perhaps by design... I am no longer sure what the heck I was thinking, but I did realize that here in Japan, all the gaijin (foreigner) men were chasing Japanese women. I was at a distinct disadvantage owing to the fact that I was shy and could not speak the language. By shy I mean that I couldn't or wouldn't make the first move.
As such... I had a whole lot of gaijin women on the JET Programme who did not seem very interested in being hit on by a plethora of drunken Japanese men, but did not seem to mind one drunken Canadian man. Me.
I slept with a couple of Japanese women and some Thai women and about seven other AETs during my first year in Japan... and I was looking to add a few more to that number... or so I thought.
Ashley and I had broken up, but we did remain friends-with-benefits. Trouble is... I was still in love with her. I hate failing at anything. I had done enough of that in the past back in Canada... but by re-inventing myself here, I vowed to exude self-confidence... even if I wasn't self-confident.
It's all about perceptions.  
Today... I get up at 12:30PM. Blah.
I do some laundry which helps me think.
Catherine, one of the new AETs who had arrived in Japan a month and a half ago from England calls me up and invites herself over.
When she arrives an hour later, I show her around town, discovering quite a few things myself that I'll have to look at in greater detail later.
We arrive back at my apartment at 6PM - Ashley phones.
I invite her over.
I'm pretty sure that Catherine likes me too much... and I only like her. I'm afraid I may have led her on quite a bit, as I spent a lot of time showing the newcomers around Tokyo (with Matthew), and around the Tochigi-ken capital of Utsunomiya (again with Matthew). I'm afraid my outgoing, friendly personality and my willingness to call up the newcomers (actually... most of the people I called were women) (I am a dog).
Anyhow... Ashley, Catherine and I go to Tsubuhachi - a local restaurant I enjoy before heading over to the 4C bar - a bar I enjoy.
Matthew comes over with his friend Robert and some other Japanese girl I met last night when mutual acquaintance Kevin was pissing me off by trying to intervene in my picking up of a beautiful Japanese woman at the 4C.
Sitting at a bar table, Catherine is on my right and Ashley is on my left.
Catherine begins making a pass at me by stroking my thigh and moving up quite a bit, if you know what I mean.
I lift up the table cloth slightly and lean over to Ashley and tell her what's going on.
I then ask her to please sleep over at my place.
She said "I'll think about it."
She says: "I'm scandalized that someone would be that horny."
Really, Ashley? You're a funny woman!
After enough drinks to kill a rhino, the three of us stagger home.
Now... I know what you are thinking, and so was I - especially after engaging in a threesome back in Thailand two months ago! But.. you have to know your audience... while I am unsure about Catherine, I was pretty sure Ashley wasn't going to play along.
Ashley asks (in front of Catherine) if I would ride her home to Nishinasuno (about 25 minutes northwest of my apartment), because she is too drunk.
Thanks, Ashley. I owe you one.
I leave Cathy napping on my sofa. I'm still thinking I can do things with her when I get back - probably because I've been drinking.
So... I ride out with Ashley and make her stop near the Ohtawara Wedding Hall. We begin making out - and play grabby pants - but we agree to continue back at her place.
We race over - because nothing gives one energy like the prospect of sex... have some wham-bam-thank-you ma'am and then tell her I;ll see her tomorrow for the best sex she's ever had. She stammers an 'okay' probably  wondering how I was going to top some of the things we have done previously.
I ride home.
It's been an 90 minutes since I left (I told you it was quick with Ashley - which is why I figured I really owed her).
I drag Catherine to bed and immediately begins to strip and kiss me. I have no idea how I'm able to want to do this again - but then again, I remember I am 26.
I hope she doesn't notice how wet my groin is and wonder if I have Ashley's scent all over me... but then that moment quickly passes and I get down to work. Actually, a part of me does hope that she notices.
I pass out for a quick cat nap after I am done, and then get woken up for more.
Are you serious? Doesn't anyone realize I am tired? Hello... penis... I'm tired... go to sleep.... but it doesn't. Again. I'm 26.
As we are doing it, I pop a muscle and it hurts like a bugger.
I am too tired to continue even when it goes back in place.
Christ. Condoms?! It's a good thing I didn't finish inside... but still!
That was stupid.
I go to sleep with her scarecrow blonde hair draped all over my chest - sticky like a cobweb.
What the heck do I do now?
Catherine... sorry, but I don't want a girlfriend.
Ashley... sorry, but I want more than a friend-with-benefits.

Somewhere in a tangled web,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog is by the Everly Brothers: WEB  

Sunny Days

It’s Tuesday, September 17, 1991 and I feel better today, though with the lack of sleep I am still mentally and physically tired. Emotionally – ahhhh, pretty good.

It might be because today I get to go to work at Ohtawara Chu Gakko (Ohtawara Junior High School) here in Ohtawara-shi (Ohtawara City), Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. After arriving here from Toronto nearly 14 months, I have been enjoying my time here as an assistant English English teacher on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme, though I am unaware of what Canada got in exchange for me. Probably peace and quiet and a higher domestic IQ.

This school is the largest in Ohtawara – and while the kids aren’t necessarily the smartest or the nicest in Japan, they are rather smart and nice – and that’s good enough for me, especially since I spent last week at the what I have dubbed “The School From Hell” – one Kaneda Kita Chu Gakko (Kaneda North Junior High School). I might be wrong in that assessment, but it’s how I feel.

Here at Dai Chu (the nickname for Ohtawara Junior High School) the students come walking calmly up tp me with smiles on their faces to not only greet me, but to talk to me in English first, and then Japanese to see if I have increased my language skills. I have. Sadly not by a lot.

I haven’t seen these kids in a few months, and I have missed them even if I don’t know them by name, I know them by face and actions. They are great kids and hopefully will be great adults.

After lunch with a third-year class, I play some baseball and have a lot of fun.

The whole day is an exercise in Japan proving to me that all my fears about belonging here are unfounded... I mean, students put their hand up to volunteer answers – it might not really be a first here, but it seems like it.

After an enjoyable day with the kids, I go home and don’t really have to unwind or relax. I already feel that way. I go shopping for some food – dinner and Coca-Cola – I buy some pork tontatsu and rice already cooked and just need to heat it up in my convection oven/microwave.

I head over to my night school class – and while there are only six adults there – well... who cares? We have a great class. Shoko isn’t there – the young lady I like, and who likes me – and while I do wonder where she is, my class is probably better than ever as I can concentrate on teaching and having fun rather than trying not to stare into her beautiful brown eyes or get caught staring at her legs as she demurely shields her face from my hungry eyes.

After class, I ride my bicycle over to the local video rental store and get the 1953 movie The Hitch-hiker (intresting enough written by Robert Joseph - no relation) and try to watch it while doing my puzzle. I stop the movie and instead call up one of the newly arrived women on the JET Programme – Amanda Goodsell, a tall bubbly blonde who has zero to interest in me sexually, but I like her. She’s not only cute and smart but possesses a real sarcastic wit that is a complete turn-on for me. We exchange life stories over the course of two hours.

Why am I calling up new JET arrivals every night? Well, to be honest, I am only calling up new female JET arrivals every night... but I know what the first month was like for me in Japan. No, no one asked me to call up people, but aside from the possibility that I might get laid, I just want to make sure everybody survives unscathed. Helping people makes me feel more alive.

That first month in Japan while completely scary, was euphoric... but that next month... when we started work for the first time... that’s when I started to get stressed out a bit by the enormity of the challenge of trying to survive all day long where you may not be understood by a single person. Fortunately for me, my English teachers at the schools were all pretty damn good – and my bosses at the Ohtawara Board of Education (OBOE) were fantastic at keeping tabs on my general well-being without being snoopy.

Amanda, however, is surprisingly well adjusted. She will do well here.

When we finish talking and do my puzzle again and finish the movie and finally crash at 2:30AM?!

Japan has magically restored by faith in her. Or maybe I just feel happy knowing I don’t have to go back to Hell for a while.

Somewhere it’s a different day,
Andrew Joseph

Today’s blog is by Canadian group Lighthouse: WORKSOHARD

Hello, I Love You

Hi. It's Monday, September 16, 1991 and I'm somehow surviving here in Japan. I've been here over 13 months living in the fishbowl that is Ohtawara-shi (Ohtawara City), Tochigi-ken, (Tochigi Prefecture), Japan as an assistant English teacher on the JET (Japan Exchnage & Teaching) Programme.

I haven't been in a great mood for the past couple of weeks. Some of it may be due to the euphoria of my mother flying back to Toronto.

Or maybe it's woman concerns: I had an American girlfriend, but now we're just friends... friends-with-benefits, mind you, plus I have another woman (Canadian)  chasing after me that would like to have a boyfriend, but I just want sex from, and then there's the Japanese fox I like, who likes me, but for whatever reason, the fates continue to conspire against us.

Of course, my mood might also be due to a lot of pressure (real or imagined) from having to perform my duties as a teacher last week at the worst school in the city. Or the fact that I haven't actually gone on vacation in a while (though every day in Japan could be considered a vacation by some people).

Or maybe it's because the Japanese like to invite me out for dinner and drinks - but mostly drinks - that I am feeling like an old distillery.

 Or maybe I miss my female stalker who provided me with awesome nights - so much so that I didn't sleep for a week. Only a guy would sleep with his stalker.

 Or maybe its the fact I don't have a girlfriend, and I want the one I can't have. Or maybe its not doing as well as I wanted in a sport I have no business doing well  - kyudo (Japanese archery), or maybe I'm not sleeping enough or maybe... just maybe I like to worry about things.

Personally, I hope all of this angst is due to me no getting laid enough. A month a ago, I was in Thailand and was getting it four times a day from two Thai women I befriended.... the last time with all three of us together.It's tough to go back to 'routine' after that!

 Maybe it's the heat? Maybe I just miss Ashley and the way we were. I feel absolutely awful after telling her last night that my grandfather had died and I was depressed. He had died, but that was in February. My cat died that month, too. Also a friend back home died, as well.

No... probably just miss the regular sex. People... man does not live on bread alone. We need to be regular, despite all of the fiber in bread. 

I spent last night at Ashley's place. She's my current friend-with-benefits. She's very attractive and very, very smart, but not that smart - else why get involved with me. She's an introvert, while I am an introvert pretending to be an extrovert. Apparently, I'm good at it.

And by the way... who goes to Japan to get an American or Canadian girlfriend? Apparently I do. 

Ashley and I get up at 1PM! We snuggle a bit, talk, get up, talk some more, eat some more of her week-old soup, and talk again.

Don't ask me what we talked about. It was pleasant, but I think I was in shock by all of the crap revolving around me and how I don't think I like the person I am becoming.I need to change. Get back to who I was with a hint of who I want to be.

 I leave her place at 3PM - she wants to do laundry, and I don't want to hang out anymore. I need to feed my fish, anyways.

 Back home in my stately apartment (3 bedrooms, LDK, western bathroom and laundry and two balconies - yes... this is Japan, where everyone lives in a rabbit hutch! Not! Maybe in Tokyo. Maybe) i futz around with my puzzle when I get a phone call from fellow AET John Abraham.

He says he'd like to purchase my motorcycle.I bought a low-powewred motorcycle two months ago, and aside from driving it around while testing it before purchasing it, I have not yet been on it. It scares the crap out of me. Considering how my mind is, do you really think I should be riding a motorbike? My board of education office doesn't want me to because they know I'm accident prone - what with being hit twice on separate occasions by cars while riding my bicycle. I wonder if I gave myself brain damage then. It would explain so much.

 So... he quickly comes over, hands me 30,000 yen ($300) and I hand him the motorcycle keys. Yay! I hope he doesn't kill himself.

I did pay 30,000 yen for the damn thing didn't i? I didn't lose money on the deal did I? Oh crap.

I go back to my apartment and call Catherine - another new girl on the JET Programme who seems to like me (she was not mentioned in the diatribe up above). I know... how do I feel down about my wonderful rife when I have women throwing themselves at me?

 We chat until 1:30AM - and wow does she sound hot to trot. 

What does she look like again?

Somewhere trying to remember,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by The Doors: HELLO!
PS: Crap! I bought the damn motorcycle for 35,000 yen ($350). I lost 500 yen ($50) on this deal! Man... I need to get some real sleep. Maybe tomorrow.

Bohemian Rhapsody

By the way... sorry about the other night (yesterday). The guys building a monster home across the street hit some cables and down went my Internet, television and telephone... for almost 24 hours!

The guys at the cable company were surprised to learn that people in my neighbourhood were without service. They asked me why I didn't call them sooner. I told them I didn't have any telephone service (again). They asked why I didn't use my cell phone. I don't have one, I told them. This stunned the person trying to help me, as apparently I am the only person in Canada without a cellphone. Hey! No one is belling THIS cat, Roger that!
(Bell and Rogers are two of the bigger telecommunications companies in Canada). They then attempted to sell me on a new cell phone and plan - rather than work at resolving the main problem of me not having any services. Idiots.

It's Friday, August 30, 1991.

I have to go into work -- the Ohtawara Board of Education (OBOE) - I do, and spend it putting together some of my prefectural newsletter for the English-speaking teachers in Tochigi-ken (Prefecture of Tochigi).

I leave at 11AM and head back home.

My mom is leaving Ohtawara-shi (City of Ohtawara) to go back to Toronto.

I change clothes and then carry my mom's two suitcases downstairs. The taxi comes at exactly 1PM, per my friend Naoko's orders.

We travel via Shinkansen (bullet train) from Nasushiobara-eki (Nasushiobara train station) down to Ueno-eki (Ueno train station) in Tokyo, and then hop aboard a Skyliner shuttle train to Narita airport in Chiba-ken (Chiba Prefecture).

My mom is talking a lot to me, but I have to admit I am kind of stunned, and I have no idea what she said to me. While the first part of our vacation together worked out great for me (we met in Thailand where I abandoned her in the evenings after sight-seeing together, to go and hook up with a security guard and waitress at our hotel for awesome fun sexual times). The middle part I was moody, but luckily she went off on her own to see Japan herself. When she got back - well, let's just say the last three days were great thanks to the efforts of Ohtawara International Friendship Association, friends Naoko and Tokunori, and the OBOE. Without their help I fear she might have had a crappy time with me. Instead I have memories to last a lifetime--and now after putting it here in this blog, it will last until we get hit by an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) that could wipe out computers and thus civilization as we know it. EMPs are usually caused by nuclear weapons et al. Let's hope that never happens.

At the airport, we have our last snack together: an apple pie and an espresso for her, and a banana choco-pie and a beer for me. I just love that you can get such a wide mix of stuff at a kiosk in Japan.

Then we say our good-byes. See you next year... maybe. I really do like Japan a lot, and am already thinking of staying a third year. I wish I could even stay longer, but the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme only allows participants to stay a total of three years--if their educational office wants them of course.

I'm not sad or depressed or anything... but rather glad... glad I got to spend some time with her. I didn't realize she would be dead in two years.

I go out and purchase some magazines--one of which I will utilize in a blog tomorrow to explain a few things about Japanese culture and language (I hope).

Heading home via bullet train, it's packed and I have to stand all the way... probably making some Japanese person a little afraid that the big gaijin (foreigner) is looking down her top. I was, but she had no reason to be afraid... I mean, it's nothing I haven't seen before - especially since arriving here in Japan 13 months ago.

Back at the train station, I'm too tired top bother going down to a closer train station and then catching a bus home, so I just take a taxi all the way.

Arriving home at 9:30PM, I fry and egg or two, drink a Coke and watch some videos of Tiny Toons that my brother, Ben, had taped for me. Ben, by the way, won an Emmy award for writing for Roly Poly Ollie, a kids cartoon/computer-generated show that won best children's television program... all of the writers got one. That was maybe 10 years later. I do recall that at home, we had to enlarge all of the doors at the top so he could fit his head through there! I kid. I'm proud of my entire family.

Back in Ohtawara-shi, Matthew - ever the good friend - calls to see if things went well for my mom's departure. I assume so. After chatting for a few minutes, I suddenly hit a wall and get very tired and am actually in bed at 11PM.

Somewhere in my apartment by myself,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by Queen: EASYCOMEEASYGO.
PS: It is speculated the song is about lead singer Freddie Mercury personal demons with relationships. I'll just leave it at that and not speculate any further... but I think I just figured out that personal demons with relationships - that's what my ramblings of my past are all about. I'm not gay - not that there's anything wrong with that in my opinion... but really, life is all about relationships. Work, home, whatever. I can't write a cool song like this, so I do this blog. It's not in the same  league, of course, but one does the best one can.
PPS: Lots more to come.

Japanese Schoolgirl Prostitutes

While not a prostitute, this young lady is criminally hot.

Well... if you are reading this blog you must either be intrigued or disgusted by the headline of this blog. 

The first thing you need to know is that age of sexual consent in Japan is 13.


I had no idea. As a junior high school teacher in Ohtawara-shi, Toichigi-ken, Japan, I constantly had young girls pressing themselves all over me and trying to hold my hand or give me massages (no happy ending!). It was a little disturbing, and I did accept the offers of a massage in the teacher's office, but I never thought there was anything untoward the way they acted towards me.

But, not once did I suspect that there might be any student offering themselves up as a prostitute. Personally, I doubt that sort of stuff went on ion my tiny do inaka (boondocks) of a city.

Also, Japan's Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956 states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it,"but contains many loopholes and liberal interpretations of the law, which in turn has caused a loose enforcement of the law thereby allowing a sex trade industry to come into some ¥2.3 trillion (Cdn/US $27.2 billion) a year.

A recent article in the international press states that prostitution is rife in Japanese schools, with schoolgirls of ever younger ages selling their bodies for extra spending money, both to adults and amongst themselves.

Prices for girls in elementary school are said to have dropped below ¥3,000 (~Cdn/US $36), leading some to wonder what has and will become of the nation’s public morals.

In many cases the prostitution is conducted through deai-kei (出会い系... which means 'meeting') sites, often relationship-focused BBSes (bulletin board systems) designed for use with mobile phones.

There is a case of a junior school boy who pimped a 13-year-old girl for over ¥60,000 (~Cdn/US $712) by using a deai-kei BBS; and other school girls who use the site to pimp themselves.

Known as enjo kousai (paid dating), a whole industry of schoolgirl prostitution has sprung up, with girls being called 'JC' within the slang of the sites (I was unable to discover what exactly JC stands for, however!), and with the large amounts of money involved encouraging involvement in the trade.

A junior high boy is said to have advertised: “Recruiting JC in Kanagawa. You can make a lot so anyone looking for dates come to me,” and to have pimped out a 16-year-old girl for ¥40,000 (~$475).

Such prices are said to be the exception rather than the rule, with prices very much lower for students who set themselves up--or when they are even younger in age. Cases show that high school students sold their wares to one another for a paltry ¥3,000 ($36), while junior high kids charged even less.

This is not about getting rich. It's about getting pocket change.  

These so-called dating sites are been monitored with greater urgency by the Japanese police, but like prostitution in any country, these sites can operate discretely even with the police supervision.

In a case of "D'uh", there is a nationwide filtering of children access to the Internet as a solution, and does appear to be working.

Thankfully, Japan has been promoting the use of condoms, so pregnancies have been kept low. Having said that, some Japanese girls are blasé about condom usage and have no concerns getting pregnant--and even the dear-old school teacher will often turn a blind eye to pregnancies rather than get involved.

Despite condom usage, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are on the rise in Japan, as healthcare officials have noted that up to 30 per cent of those with STDs were teenagers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, university students are also involved in prostitution--it's not really a rare event anymore.

The newspaper article then notes that traditionally Japan has blamed the men/boys involved, and openly penalizes them while instead offering counseling to the females. 

Personally, if there were no women offering sexual services for money, then prostitution would not exist. If there were greater penalties for those offering themselves for money, as well as for those seeking such favours, perhaps there wouldn't be such a yen for the world's oldest profession... and I'm not talking about farming. 

Here's a link to another one of my blogs on the topic - how the solicitation was DONE.

Somewhere wondering what the parents of these kids are doing,
Andrew Joseph

Highway To Hell

Again... written but never published - perhaps this was just written to rid myself of some angst. I had entitled it: Ode To A Scuzzball. It's about an encounter with another AET (Assistant English Teacher) on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme.

No one who knows how to play people would ever have trusted him.

He was phonier than a $3 bill (unless you are in the Bahamas - see photo above - I have a lot of weird stuff, eh?). The guy was 6'-4", about 210 lbs of good-looking man (so you know I'm not talking about myself). His unblemished dark-chocolate skin and his neatly trimmed short locks were probably enough to fool many a person. If his looks didn't do it, his glad-handing talk probably would.

"Hey! How are ya? Good to see ya! I haven't seen you in a long time. Watcha been doing with yourself?" was all said in a quick, fluid breath.

I guess he could sense if more was needed or not. If it was, he would follow up his opening statements with: "You're looking good! Really great! Have you been working out or something?"

It should be noted that he really liked the ladies. Tell me... what woman wouldn't want to be flattered by a good-looking man. Hey, even if he isn't your cup of tea and prefer a little white milk in there, there was still something magnetic about Julius Johnson Magic Erving (not his real name) that would draw people to his side; to his way of thinking.

I suppose that if I ever had told him that I liked him but thought he was a bullshit artist, he would say how surprised and hurt he was by my accusation, after all he has the highest degree of respect for me. I could see him doing that (and I did see him say this to others)... turning the table on them to make them feel 'wrong' all the while wondering how he had been found out.

A word to the wise. You can't bullshit a bullshitter. You can, I suppose, but you'll never know who is actually winning.

He used to 'smarm' his way onto women. They loved it. Or so they said out loud. But in secret, they told me how they hated it. That it was all so much bullshit. But apparently, that hate was not enough to stop some from lending him money. 

Somehow, he finagled a small loan from three female AETs of about ¥20,000 (Cdn $200) each. That's $600! A minor figure in the grand scheme of things, but still pretty good when not one of them had the guts to ask for their money back. It didn't matter - he never seemed to have any money anyways.

From an Australian barmaid he was dating in his home town, he borrowed the equivalent of ¥100,000 ($1,000 Cdn) and bought himself a used car. She never asked to be repaid, assuming he was a nice guy and would repay her when he was able - perhaps after his moral fibre transplant operation that he was going to have a week from last month.

At an AET gathering for all of the folk in four nearby provinces including Tochigi-ken, I was crawling around delivering messages to some jerk from the love of my life that week (Trish Pepper - just friends, but that was great, too), when I was set upon by the familiar: "Hey! How are ya? Good to see ya! I haven't seen you in a long time. Watcha been doing with yourself?" 

He and another guy who was dating a gorgeous blonde AET I had my eye on (and escorted her dancing in Tokyo one weekend (never slept with, because we were friends)) sat and talked with each other and each had a shot of sake (Japanese rice wine). But what got me was when Julius Johnson Magic Erving toasted us with: "Here's to Tochigi-ken's three womanizers."

I was shocked. You could have knocked me over with a rock (no, really). I drank up because I was already too drunk to argue, but it stuck in my craw, though. And who makes toasts like that?!

Is that what people think about me here? Screw that! My friends knew better. I mean, I never used a woman for personal gain - just sex. And even then it was never my intention to just get sex... I know in my head and my heart that I always wanted more.

Everybody knew that Julius Johnson Magic Erving was happy. I knew, and excluding the odd chance greeting, I never went out of my way to talk to him. I just got a bad vibe from him. 

Turns out the happiness was a facade. He was not as happy as everyone thought. Why? Because he suddenly skipped the country and headed back to the U.S.--Boston, I believe. But not before he sold everything in his apartment. 

I may have mentioned this previously, but AETs on the JET Programme, are provided with a rental accommodation that is fully furnished by our respective city/town/hamlet board of educations. In others words, we don't own anything in the place unless we ourselves physically purchased it.

Julius Johnson Magic Erving sold the television, VCR (a machine people used before PVRs - personal video recorders), stereo system, cabinets, tables, chairs, sofa, futons, blankets, air-conditioning unit - everything!

And he left his board of education office with an international telephone bill of over ¥400,000. That's about $4,500.

While his board of education office wanted to pursue the matter across international boundaries and make him pay for his crimes, I was told (maybe it's rumour and innuendo - I'm repeating the story I was told here) that CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) asked them to not pursue the matter as it would not be good for the image of the JET Programme. It was thought that the media would kill us, and CLAIR would be out of a job.

His office reluctantly agreed, and the matter was hushed up. I still don't know if the office had to eat the loss, or whether CLAIR came to their aid for keeping their mouth shut. Whatever. That was the story I was told - and considering I got some of my data straight from some of the women who had lent him money as well as other Tochigi-ken AET leaders, I have no reason to doubt the truth of this story.

Who says crime doesn't pay? 

Somewhere still needing a loan,

Andrew Joseph

Today's title is rocked on by AC/DC: HIGHWAY TO HELL

PS: That other guy who drank with Julius Johnson Magic Erving and myself - he was more like me than our blog subject. I liked him. I just coveted his girlfriend. And anyways, I only went out with her as an escort after they had broken up. She called me up and asked me to go dancing with her in Tokyo - because she enjoyed my company, thought I was cute (!), and wanted the protection against  - well, the rest of Japan. Plus she knew I could dance. She was a sweet girl - and yes, I would have slept with her - but the opportunity never presented itself. We paid our own way the entire weekend.

PPS: Not much was ever mentioned of Julius Johnson Magic Erving about a week after he left until now - 17 years later in 2010. It's a good thing I write stuff down.

PPPS: And no, I'm not telling you the blonde's name. Mostly because it eludes me at the moment. Crap. Why didn't I write that down?