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Yesterday may well have been one of the last true days of summer here in Tokyo. September 1 is seen as the definitive “end of summer/start of autumn” in Japan - public pools shut down and all over the country winter uniforms make a return, regardless of actual temperatures. Yesterday, however, despite the it's-September-so-summer's-over ruling, was hot hot hot humid humid humid (with no open pools to escape to) and during the night there was a fabulously wild electrical storm the likes of which has never been seen in Tokyo by this lover of storms. My household all got up at 3.30 a.m. to watch it. I guess the storm means there's a cold front moving through. :(

Anyway, yesterday afternoon was perfect for sitting under trees in a park with beer and bubble mix. I spent most of the afternoon blowing bubbles and drinking beer in Inokashira Koen with Christian and Yuiko, and later on Tyler. The park was full of the usual suspects: the blues man, the wash-board single-string double-bass band, the wacky ukulele man, the enka kids, the magicians, stall holders, miscellaneous earnest solo buskers, kids on training wheels, hippie families, young rappers practicing their rhymes, drummers, strolling foreigners and dating couples.

The past week and weekend was mostly taken up with the typical post-long-vacation-catching-up with friends, students, the never-ending crap-to-do list and drinking way too much. There are also two little gold-coast monkeys (Juggs & Evette) staying with me and having their exhilarating semi-annual shopping-spree adventures in Tokyo so that's been a pleasant distraction from the post-tropical-paradise-adventure-return-to-mundanity-grind. But this week the whole country returns to “normal” - it is considered Autumn now, schools resume everywhere and all the summer holiday travelers have returned for work. Which translates to an overall sense of everything settling down a bit.

I'm out. Have to go to the High School and plan my semester syllabus. I'm actually looking forward to doing it. Am I weird?