So it looks like I’ll have access to a PC on Sunday with some power, so I can upload some of my pics then.

I have a nephew named Riku, about two years old. He kicks me in the nuts with his cuteness daily. He knows how to speak very little, most of his words are babble even to his mom, but he knows “doozo” (”here you go”, which he says as he finds things around the room to hand to you), Kaka (mommy), Toto (daddy), “Bye Bye”, “Go! Go! Go!” (which he says to me ALL THE TIME), and today he learned my name after Orie told him just once (”Anny”- Close enough). “Anny Bye Bye!” “Anny Go! Go! Go!”. I took lots of pics of him, which I’ll post when I can.

His father is Ko, my brother in law who is my age. He was really proud to have an “international family”, so with his wife they decided to name their boy Riku, as it sounds a little like “Rick”. I of course promised Orie not to tell them that Riku also sounds like when Japanese people say “Lick” in English.

So tonight I was putting some plans together for next week, talking to some friends on the phone in English, when Riku’s pet demonic evil-looking beetle thing suddenly overturned and stopped moving. I think it’s dead. I undoubtedly killed the beetle with my careless use of English inside the home. We’re going to see if he’s Just Sleeping tonight, and take appropriate actions tomorrow.

Last night I think I had my Jet Lag Fit: When I got home at like 5:30, I literally could not think straight, and while I totally wanted to rise up and do some things (shop for manga, etc) I just couldn’t move at all. I only had enough energy to go to the bathroom and make my immediate sleep area a little better. And watch a little bizarre TV.

Today I woke up and decided to go to Tokyo to get some shopping done before next week: Next week I’ll be spending most of my time with friends and the like, and won’t want to make extra time to go out of my way to do some shopping, so I did all my “Akihabara shopping” today. Akihabara, being the electronics and otaku (collectibles, games, hobby stuff) district of Japan I picked up a PS2 game or two and a handful of books. For dinner we had some expensive Autumn Foods (matsutake mushrooms, baked kuri seeds etc) with relatives.

Tomorrow is a day of relative rest and relaxation, and trying to contact the few friends I haven’t been able to yet. Maybe getting in some ramen and heading to a Japanese tavern (izakaya).

Time for some sleep. But first, more bizarre TV. Actually, right now it’s not too weird, pretty normal: High school girls and boys are talking about personal problems in a group counselling environment. Nice and light, no host or visible audience, not like the Oprahs/Doctor Phils. I’m hoping that the comedy team London Boots is on TV later tonight, because I could really go for some weird comedy; like the show where they take 5 girl-friends and turn them against each other for laughs. And then spray them with a fire extinguisher.