Che Lives
Che Guevara is experiencing new popularity with the youth of Japan. At least according to this article in the Japan Times. My own personal experience is that although Che's image can be seen on T-shirts everywhere in Japan, very few people wearing the T-shirts actually know who he is. But maybe they're a little more sophisticated up in Tokyo.

Also of note: found out via Josh's weblog that our mutual friend Harrison has started his own weblog. Of particular interest is Harrison's dissertation on the Japanese traditional "kancho" or the habit Japanese children have of poking their English teacher in the rear. Regular readers of this blog will perhaps remember I have discussed this problem before. Oddly enough for what ever reason it has not been a problem in my new environment. This is perhaps because the company I work for instructs the schools that foreigners do not like being "kanchoed". However in Ajimu it was something I had to deal with every time I visited an elementary school. Harrison and I used to complain a lot about Kanchos, and you'll notice he references me a couple times in his post. Specifically he calls into question the effectiveness of some of my methods of dealing with the Kancho, like my "hat out the window policy" or "bringing a water gun to school".

The latter is one of those stories that I probably should have posted on the weblog a long time ago, but at the time it happened I was a bit busy and behind on my posting. I won't go into all the gory details here, but the short version is I thought it would be a good idea to bring a water gun to school and soak any kids who gave me trouble. I bought the biggest super soaker I could find because I wanted to really nail any kid who tried anything. It wasn't as big as an investment as you might think. Those things have really come down in price since I was a kid, at least in Japan. I got it for under $10.

anyway, worked great at first. Really nailed a few kids and sent them back to their seats in soaking clothing. Then the kids got me in a rush and tried to take the gun. Although I held it in my grip, the kids were able to manipulate the trigger and water was going all over the classroom. I eventually managed to free the gun, and using my height as an advantage held it out of their reach. One kid that I didn't see climbed up on the the teachers desk behind me and grabbed the trigger. Since the gun was pointed at an upward angle, water sprayed all over the class room, soaking some of the art work on the wall. Needless to say, this was an experiment I did not repeat.

And finally: while I'm making plugs, my friend Dean Dozeman has started a weblog as well. Check it out if you've got a free minute.