My friend is in the hospital. Been there for 3 days now. I didn't know it. Nobody did. It's kind of sobering to realize that your network of friends and people that know you is so thin here... you could just slip through it unnoticed. I could disappear for maybe a week or two before anybody knew it, if it was during the holidays.

Tonight I fulfilled a lifelong dream... no, not the one with the monkeys. The one of dressing up as Santa Claus. Which I did for a bunch of elementary kids who were for the most part totally savvy to my little secret identity. I heard one ask the other "so you think he's a gaijin?"; pulling on my beard his friend replied "yeah, he's a gaijin".

It was worth it, however, for afterwards the english teacher took me to her home where I met her kids and husband and she proceeded to make me enough food to last me the winter while her kids beat the snot out of me in Mario tennis. I didn't feel quite so bad since they beat dad too and just as severely. Afterwards I helped them with their studies while they taught me some kanji.

Forthcoming is a report on America mura.. an ultra-hip-bizarro-miniature facsimile of America done up japanese style... and the wonderful toy shops therein. But being Santa-san for a day has worn me out.