For a while Geoff and I have been joking that, since I always seemed to have more money than him, I was the happy victim of some accounting error in my favor. "You just wait," he would say, jokingly, "the other shoe will drop." Hahaha. Laughs all around. I buy another half bottle of wine. We toast to our good health.

Well, surprise, surprise. Truth is stranger than fiction. Yesterday I was told to go to the front office, apparently I had some backrent to pay. I was unaware of this backrent, but I knew I could float another 400 for rent, should worse come to worse. If this was my other shoe, so be it.

I walk in to the office:

"I hear I have a bill."
"Oh, yes," our bookeeper says, "here."

It's for 810 dollars.

"Do you understand the charges?" he asks. I'm silent for several seconds, reeling from this kick in the balls.

"What's this?" I manage to say, pointing at one in a long list of charges. "Landlord Negotiation Fee?"

"A yes. That's your landlord."

Me: ...

Him: ...

Me: "It's for two hundred dollars."

Him: "Ah, yes..."

Me: (Sigh)

There was also a bill for two hundred dollars in "Thanks Money" that I may or may not have recieved. Perhaps I would have had more of a claim to contest it if they could actually understand me, and if it weren't for the fact that the bill is four months old.

Anyway, that's not the point of this entry. They tell me more money is coming my way for some or other reason, I'll believe it when I see it, but since I am now out the better part of a thousand dollars two days before rent is due for this month, I think it's high time for an entry on "Things I Love About Japan." Hopefully it will steer me out of the dangerous and slightly postal mood I'm in...


I have four things I can say I love about Japan right now. The list will hopefully grow as time wears on.


Thing 1: Tipping. Or rather, lack of tipping. You never tip anyone here for anything ever. Bellhop carries your bags up twenty flights of stairs? No tip. Bellhop carries you up twenty flights of stairs? No tip. Taxis? No tip. Food, drink? No tip. In fact, they will be insulted if you give them a tip. Only in America do we insist on tipping even ungrateful members of our service industry with 20% on top of the bill. It's asinine.


Thing 2: The Soba Noodle joint in the train station. This place is very underrated. I am often caught in the delimma where I am already late to meet people for some drinks, but I haven't eaten all day. This is when you need to steer clear of McDonald's, it will destroy the empty stomach. If, however, you want soothing wheat noodles in a steaming broth, with fresh onions topped with some hot pepper, why then simply turn left instead of right at the station, my friend, and walk in to the cheap noodle place. Two Bucks Fifty Cents will get you all the food you need. Watch out for the random eggs cracked on top of the food though.


Thing 3: Single Serving Coffee. When they aren't working themselves to death here, they're drinking themselves to death, so what keeps them going for those 15 hour work days? More often than not it is one of the thirty-five or so different types of single serving coffee cans offered in convenience stores and vending machines everywhere. Several different types for each day of the week.

Thing 4: The Ten Different Sizes of Beer Available for Purchase. They have everything from giant fifty ounce jugs to tiny 4 and a half ounce shot cans.
Here I am holding a 4.5 ounce can of beer, the kiddie size. Seriously, what am I supposed to do with four ounces of beer? Feed it to my cat? Is this a beer for ants?














There you have it. Four things I love about Japan. Notice that "Freak 810 Dollar Charges" is not among them.