Just another week at the office...

Poor Takumasu made the mistake of coming to class in his karate garb. He seemed to enjoy the impromptu shoot this provoked and posed without any encouragement whatsoever. I was aiming for a straightforward full frontal, but he had better ideas. He`s one of my favourite students. He is an Early Bird, which means he has better English than the book he has been put on, but needs to review some parts to catch up with the class he will join in the new year. It means I teach little and play lots. He`s a gem and, of course, incredibly cute.

I worry I might get bored of the cuteness of Japan, but it hasn`t happened yet. I am quickly being drawn into a world where adults it is not only acceptable for adults to have Disney toys dangling from pockets, keys and mobile phones, but positively encourage. Walt must have spun a triple somersault the day the mafia decided that his creations would be their symbol, thereby sky-rocketing the cool of Lilo and Stitch trinkets.

These two are called Nanaka and Reina and are also sweet and eager. When this is your job, that Monday dread of heading back to the office disappears in an instant. They were drawing t-shirts, socks and skirts and were beaming throughout the lesson. They only stopped smiling when I got the camera out.

It`s been a good week. I seem to have cracked my most difficult student, the belligerent Ryusuke who tuts, huffs and moans his way through class. I didn`t realise until I met him that 11 year-olds knew how to roll their eyes. He ingratitude has prompted me to put far more effort into preparing his lessons to make them more fun than I do for almost any other student, which may not be entirely fair or deserved given his attitude, but I suspect from how he flinches that things may not be entirely happy at home and the reward of actually getting him to look less surly is tremendous. Suitably, we bonded through music, that international ice-breaker. He was matching up some cut up sentences and started humming a pop song I quite like (though, obviously, don`t know the words to) and I joined in with him. He looked up, initially appalled, which melted into stunned and then he seemed to look at me as if I was human for the first time. Ah, a breakthrough moment.

Myself and Yoshiko-san, one of Shin-Shiraoka`s viperish receptionists laughed all day on Monday about Mayuko-san`s planned trip to Paris. She is still plotting to hide her destination from her husband, who thinks she`s off to Guam and has no interest in going along with her. She has packed a summer case of beachwear, but had to take a day off work so she could pack her real outfits when no one was in the house. She plans to say she rarely left the hotel, hence her lack of tan, and only show him photos of the hotel room, rather than the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles or any of the other splendid things she`ll be seeing in the French capital. It is the first time she`s tried to pull off such a plot. I hope she gets away with it so we can enjoy her next attempt.

My crate has finally been shipped. My winter coat arrived this morning, as did my trainers, some damp Russian books and a few spoiled and spilled bottles of contact lens solution. My Russian reader`s cover is fairly ruined, but at least now I can bring myself up from false beginner to accomplished novice again. It is amazing having gloves. Japan is suddenly cold. The air in clear and the cold cuts into you like sheet ice. It`s still sunny and the skies are beautiful clear. The air has a clarity I would not expect in such an unenvironmental place, but I miss having smog to bar the cold.

In case you`ve forgotten what I look like, this is me eating the dreaded natto in Hidako`s house (spot the real fur on the sofa, it`s perfectly acceptable to wrap yourself in dead things here). Natto is gross, but popular as it`s very healthy. It stinks like a dead man`s sweating yeast. The taste isn`t quite so bad, but my nose and mouth are not so far apart that I can enjoy such eating experiences. Another of my students claims it is her favourite food, but I cannot believe this. Either that, or she hasn`t discovered the caramelised potatoes I tucked into on Wednesday. Like toffee apples, but better. Strawberry Kit Kats aren`t bad either...