japan

While leaving an Indian restaurant in Okazaki today, my eyes zoomed in on a free publication sitting by the door. Without hesitation I picked up and started reading "Tokyo Bharat Times". Why? Because it was written in English. My situation is critical. I did find pleasure in reading my horoscope:

Yesterday was election day here in Japan for representatives to the Lower House. It was a very important election in that those elected individuals would turn around and elect a new Prime Minister, the most recent having been considered a lame duck. I believe it was the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) who has been in control for 50+ years. They supported the traditional practice of a representative passing a house seat to their oldest son, so that recently, about 1/3 of all house seats where gained basically through heredity.

I just finished my last lesson with a favorite student. We had been reviewing and critiquing the book "Supercapitalism" by Robert Reich and talking about related issues in a book my student had written. Usually, I had a private lesson with him every couple of weeks for only 40-50 min...really not enough time. I asked him why he wasn't taking English lessons anymore and he replied that he was just too busy. He's older, so I guess he wants to re-focus his time and energy. In either case, he was my most interesting student and I will miss our conversations.