Yesterday was Showa Day. Now, celebrating a dead emperor’s birthday makes as much sense to me as the fact that boys’ day is a holiday and girls’ day isn’t (well, this is Japan, so that kind of makes sense) But it did mean kicking back on a Tuesday, and making up for the fact that I was working on ANZAC day. It also gave me the chance to appreciate the newly fine weather, plant some more herbs, and read. And in the evening, for reasons I am powerless to explain, Sam and I drove an hour to a wedding celebration for people we’d never met.

Two weird things happened: I remember wondering when the shaken (compulsory insurance, without which I can’t drive) runs out on my car- it turns out it was yesterday. So we had to get home by midnight. I also forgot my International Driver’s Permit. Which is a bit of a problem, as I have no idea where it is.

Secondly, the father of the groom was incredibly drunk, he would hit me to get my attention, and once he touched me inappropriately. He also tried to set me up with every women who walked past. Most of whom were married, one was his wife, one was one of my students.

One of my elementary school students.

One of my male elementary school students.

So I can now say I’ve been to a hippy wedding party in Japan and heard Beach Boys covers in Japanese. So many things I never thought I would be able to say.

Leaving for Tokyo on Friday, I’m going to try to blog from my iPod, using free wireless at McDonalds. Wish me luck.