I am back at work unexpectedly. This morning I was supposed to visit another school for ALT day, but last night I got a phone call saying it had been cancelled due to the death of a teacher, not good news anyway you look at it.
I was in Tokyo on the weekend, I saw a screening on Friday night with Kanae-san, 11 short films about Human Rights, a United Nations Project. There are actually supposed to be 23 films, but only 11 were finished. It was a pretty short screening as they are only 3 minutes each. One of the director's was there for a Q&A afterwards, his was actually one of the better efforts. It was the usual bunch of good bad and indifferent films that you see in any collection of shorts.
Saturday afternoon I saw 'Public Enemy No. 1' parts 1 and 2. Wakana-san came to this screening, it was a French film in 2 parts, 4 hours in total. I really enjoyed this true story about a notorious French gangster from the 60s and 70s. The day was also marked by a $13 hot chocolate. In the Bunkamura complex (Tokyos equivalent to ACMI) there's a coffee shop, we went there for a drink between screenings as it was close by. The hot chocolate I ordered was 770 yen, which is realy expensive, but with current exchange rates (about 59 yen to the dollar) it works out to be over $13 Australian, crazy! If I hadn't bought a bike I'd be sending money to Australia and making a huge profit.
Friday night I stayed in a pretty nice hotel, I booked online and had to use my credit card, so the fairly standard cost became quite expensive since my card is from Australia and has to be charged in Aussie dollars. Saturday night I stayed in a capsule hotel. For some reason I imagined the capsule was completey enclosed, with a door that sealed you in. Not so, the opening is covered by a flimsy pull down screen that prevents people seeing in but does nothing to stop noise. The guy next door was snoring all night. I won't be doing that again by choice unless I have no other option and some decent earplugs.
Saturday morning i went back to Ueno and bought a bike jacket, it's a heavy duty touring jacket with a removable lining and lots of pockets and padding. I got some new pants as well, these ones are insulated for winter, they are fine when standing, but a little short when in riding position, but that's because my boots are short, when I pick up my old boots in Australia in January it'll be fine, they are much taller. Since I already had tall boots I didn't want to buy more of the same, the smaller ones will be god for summer here and back home. Although I did get a surprise when I waterproofed them. I bought a can of mink oil, and it smells like a dead animal. I had assumed it was just a brand, but my boots smelt strongly of something nasty, it's wearing off now.
My new helmet arrived on Friday, so now I'm pretty much set for gear, maybe I'll get a balaclava for winter but I'm not in need of anything really, I have plenty of good quality safety gear and I won't be cold.
