End of autumn...

If we are to divide the four seasons into three months, today will be the last day of autumn...

the autumn leaves are falling... winter is here...

A day of apologies...

People with great talent were supposed to be arrogant.
Who would want to see an obsequious champion being sensitive to the fan's mood!?
But they should not forget that sports is something that human beings invented and cannot exist without the support of the fans, if this is not about working out on your own by jogging or body building.
Without the rules, pushing someone out of the ring and knocking someone down in the ring will just be a fight.
Of course, a sumo or boxing champ will be stronger than me if we were to have a fight, but I would just need a small pistol to win the fight if we don't need any rules.
And by the rule, an arrogant champion is nothing but an outlaw.

the two outlaws did not seem to be apologizing from their heart...
have they won back the support of the fans!?
I don't think so...

Everybody's catching a cold!

Passengers in the bus were wearing flu masks and my colleagues at work were coughing...
I really do not want to catch a cold because if I do catch one it will really hinder my current work.

For preventive measures...

VITAMIN C is vital!
and Japanese oranges are filled with Vitamin C!

P.S.
today I held a study session about Turkey and the Kurds... it's always great to hear from experts and there's a great deal of things I must learn till I get a sense of what it really going on at Iraq...

Day for my former colleagues...

It was a day where the news was filled with crime reports!
The Defense Ministry's scandal was at its peak with former undersecretary being sacked with bribery.
And the sequels to the reports of the missing two children and their grandmother told of a sorrowful ending with their bodies being found in a port in Kagawa Prefecutre with the confession of her brother-in-law.
My former colleagues in the Current Events Division were running around and even though we had news about the Middle East Conference in the U.S. and President Musharraf stepping down as army chief in Pakistan, the news air time was limited with the main contents being filled with domestic stories with interests of the public.
Well it's actually a yearly event that reports of crime fill the front pages when it nears the end of the year. I hope it won't get too busy internationally...

Late at night, I was still able to go home by train at around 11PM...

but there were so many people out there in the station!

Learning to end turmoil...

Last night I went out to eat Yakiniku with beer and shochu with my former colleagues till 3AM... It was a great thing I can still talk with them as their comrades, but still I feel I'm completely out of the team... Well, I hope one day I can collaborate with them to make a something special!

Today I had to go to a different embassy from yesterday to apply for a visa. I just hope I'm not wasting my time!

At night I went out to talk with Iraqis visiting and studying in our country. Though I hear that they are here to learn, I honestly think we have so much things we can learn from them. In a time of turmoil, they are the ones that could teach us who live in a state of "peace-loving stupor" we call "HEIWA-BOKE".
I believe that education will help to end a turmoil state. So a give and take relationship can be formed between the two countries.
And for me, the least I hope for is that I can make friends with those wanting to live in peace!

Walking home from Shinjuku, I was reflecting on the lessons we had learned after the second World War... and now... I feel so happy to live in such a peaceful country!

the lights of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building makes me think about how lucky we are to live peacefully... but with full knowledge that there are still people suffering...

Having no idea if I can go on...

It was the start of a really tough and challenging week.

To start off the day, I was wondering around...

the Meguro Station area!

Getting a journalist visa is really a challenge. Reason and justice or even losses and gains have nothing to do with the procession of visas. It's just pure bureaucracy and following procedures that count. So compared with the time I need to prepare when I'm covering a story in Japan, it takes an additional two to three weeks to just get a permission to proceed covering a highly controlled country!

Now I only can pray that I could move on with my plans...

A thick wall...

During the day shift, the race had begun...

Vodka was only 0.2 seconds behind the winner...

She was the fastest runner of them all in the last 3 furlongs of the course with a 33.6 second record. The three male horses that finished ahead of her ran the same length with only a 33.9. But a 0.3 second faster sprint was not enough magic to lift her up...

The winner Admire Moon and Pop Rock, Meisho Samson that followed are all first class racehorses. But she finished much closer than she's done at the Takarazuka Kinen in June (see http://hide3diary.blogspot.com/2007/06/stalling-finish.html). The wall before her is quite thick and she also has to fight off a rival filly, Daiwa Scarlet.

The thicker the wall, the more challenging it is to run over it!
I also want to ride over the thick wall standing right before me...
I'm not going to give up... I think...

As I took an hour-long bath wanting to wash away all the bad luck sprinkled on me, It's now really late at night... but I can finally think about the great race to be run at Fuchu.

My favorite will of course be...

Vodka!

Worse than ever...

It was one of those days I'd just want to forget about.
It's one of the worst days of this year again!

The start of the day was bad enough. As the drinking with my bosses and a younger colleague continued on till 3AM last night, being all drunk we had a clash of viewpoints that could have hurt my relationship with the elders.
That was enough to make it a lousy morning, but it was worse when I realized it was a day I must go to work and also finish off some of the laundry or I'll be short of clothes to wear!

While I was doing my laundry, completely giving up to make it to work on time, I accidentally slammed my left toe on a box on the floor...

oh, it really hurts when I walk with shoes...

Finally making it to my office, I was slow in progress with work, and to be honest, I had a very fruitless day...
I was watching the two J1 soccer matches while working, but as the Antlers were ready to win to bring the Reds down to the edge, Gamba in a different match was scored by Vissel at the last minute of the game in injury time knocking them out from the race for the championship... boo...

Now it was much worse when I found out that the horses I had bet on finished first and third giving me nothing for the quinella ticket (which means yes... I need to have the winner and the runner-up to get a payback...).

A Vermilion and Sunrise Bacchus quinella was my bet... but though Vermilion ripped the others along with Field Rouge for the win, Sunrise was slow on his feet and could only secure the third position... that gives me nothing!!

Where's the light?

It was originally a day off for me and for many others at it was Labor Thanksgiving Day today, but as I'm really falling behind with my mission, I decided to work...
And I really needed a miracle to catch up... but of course my magic wand had no power and I was still walking through a dark corridor without no light in sight. Will I find the pathway to the right exit?
Looking pretty doubtful there...

Late at night after 11PM, I went out to get some sustaining food to perk myself up. Going out with my bosses and a younger colleague, we were supposed to stay around before the last train leaves... but...

with fire from the burning lard... light shines brightly on the cooking net! it would be great if I can use this as fuel oil to push me to the right exit!

Not regretting...

I thought I was doing OK. It was a real killer that I had drinks till 1AM yesterday with my elder colleagues last night, and I had a morning appointment at Ueno...

running past the "AMEYOKO"!

I also had to attend a lecture by an Iraqi visitor to Japan, so another Friday that was originally a day off was ruined. But it's not regrettable at all as it's one of many chances I can deepen my understanding to a nation which is practically impossible to set your feet on without fully equipped security measures.

With my mission, I had to make a snap decision about my plans without any information secure enough to assure my boss, but I decided to go on and get the necessary journalist visas to make the journey. This is really a gamble for me, but I'm not regretting my decision... I must go on!

And at night, I knew it was a consequence of yesterday's crazily crammed schedule finishing off with alcohol, I had a real headache. But I had already called on my colleagues to hold a small welcome-back drinking party for a younger colleague returning back from a month-long trip. Taking pain killers in vain, I only could drink one mug of beer, and lasted only till 11PM. But I didn't regret it... Going out to give a warm welcome back to a younger one is something I would have wanted my colleagues to do for me if I were the returnee!

With tons of TO DOs...

After overnight duty, I had no time to sleep but to take a thirty minute nap at the sofa of my office.
Taking an interview, preparing to get a visa, going to a night meeting, and attending a drinking party... a long TO DO list for this long day...

Listening to a lecture by an expert on Iraq at the night meeting held by an NGO...

I confess! I almost fell asleep!

Sad... but going on blindfoldedly...

I worked till 3:30AM at my office and I couldn't get up from my bed till noon.
Though my shift of the day was overnight duty, I went to my office to arrange an interview for tomorrow and talk to my boss about my future plans. That only left me less than an hour and a half to sleep at home, but I had no choice but to take it.

the moon sadly looked upon me from above when I headed to my office for the second time today...

It was a tremendously sad day for me today, questioning myself why and for whom am I doing this job for...
Don't wanna answer these questions... because I won't be able to go on... I hope I'm strong enough to go on blindfoldedly, forgetting about my inner conflicts about my job!

Getting colder each day!

After working till 1AM last night, I had to work late this night too.
Fighting with the Bangladesh news, I also had to do other work piled up, waiting for me to do something about them...
Oh the burden is getting heavier each day, and I hope some sunshine will cheer me up...

The highs were at 12 degrees Celcius today at central Tokyo... lowest so far this autumn...
So I finally decided to start using...

my coat!

Storm attack in South Asia!

Working in the day shift, we had to gather information about the Bangladesh crisis where Cyclone Sidr has caused serious damage to a poor nation.

a Category 4 cyclone with clouds as large as the country itself...

There are so many countries in the world prone to be attacked to tropical storms and Bangladesh is one of them. Japan and The U.S. are of course among the ones attacked with a tropical storm every year, but it is clear that the number of casualties is on a different scale with countries like Bangladesh (of course, Katrina was exceptionally deadly).
The deadliness of Sidr will soon be known to the world, but countries with decent levees and digitized early warning systems like Japan must seriously consider what support is needed to cut the damages drastically. Hefty levees and televised early warnings are not a realistic answer and shelters are badly needed. I hope they will get what they need until the next one hits!

At the Mile Championship (GI) at Yodo...

Daiwa Major wins his 5th Grade I race... his third mile GI victory in a row!

Taking a day off for a priceless meeting!

It was supposed to be a day at work, but since my appointment today had nothing to do with my present job, I went to my office to announce I will take the day off.

Free from work, I attended a gathering near Heiwajima.

the plaintiff of the Tokyo Air Pollution Lawsuit were all happy... and it was OK to say I support them being free from being a journalist today!

I attended a drinking party afterwards and had talks with many acquaintances along with sufferers of the Minamata Disease from the Shiranui Sea at Kumamoto...

Struggling at my new working environment, it's always nice to find people who think highly of what I've done through my job. I'm truly honored and also a little bit shy that I'm given so much words of gratitude by just doing my job!

A D minus...

If I were to evaluate my achievements this week, my report card will be a D minus... way under average... I'm not doomed, so it wouldn't be an F, but without any progress, I'm on the edge of flunking!

I was wandering around the city, desperate to find something that will lead me to some success...

Iidabashi in the evening...

The least I can do tonight was to have dinner without alcohol...
And since I must attend a meeting that has nothing to do with international news tomorrow, I must raise my morale and realize that I only have less than a day this weekend to accomplish my mission!

P.S.
I think a lot of people were shocked to hear Mr. Osim had a stroke and hospitalized... the World Cup preliminaries are just around the corner... I hope he recovers!

No time to rest...

Sleeping a little more than usual in the morning as I was soaked with alcohol last night, my destination was little to the northeast today.

walking by Ueno Station in the afternoon...

After taking a rest, I headed to MOFA in Kasumigaseki and spent the rest of the night at my office, grappling with tons of work.
With many work left, I have to do my best tomorrow... oh boy, I'm not getting any rest for a while!

Start of a long but short day...

After sitting up all night, I needed some breakfast...

things I can get around my office...

After going home and getting some sleep, I headed to my office again to host a study session on Iraq followed by a gathering with alcohol.
It's really tough to stay awake after overnight duty, but with so many things to cover, oh, I surely hope we get about 30 hours per day.

Adjusting to get some sleep...

Another day with an appointment in the morning on a day I must go into overnight duty. It's quite impossible to reject an offer to meet anyone, who has no idea I'm going into overnight duty, and without any other choice than to balance out the appointments so I can find a block of time to take some sleep.
Today, I also had a drinking party to attend at night, so I only had about two and a half hours to sleep in the afternoon.
I surely hope it was enough to get me through this day...

in the morning, the firefighters were doing their training at the Fire Academy... full of vigor on a nice and pleasant morning! how envious!

Three mugs of beer is too much to drive a car, but not too much for my role in the overnight shift... Though I'm pretty thirsty and sleepy, I think I can make it through!

Without progress...

After sleeping all through the morning, I started out in Central Tokyo at around 1PM. Today's probably the only day I can rest in the morning and there were no crises, so I gladly took the priviledge to continue on sleeping and rest assured at home.

After attending a session at...

the Japan National Press Club at Hibiya...

I went into night shift and stayed at my office till very late at night. To be honest, it was another day without much progress...
Too bad for me...

Blank... just outta luck...

On the way to my office, I was reading the sports newspaper and was considering about which filly and mare I will buy with Vodka.
Right before going into the day shift, the breaking news came in from Kyodo...

Unbelievable...

Vodka is out of the race! she cancels her entry!!

My mind went blank. Literally blank.
I was looking forward to see the race 6 hours later, but everything went blank!

With almost no interest...

Daiwa Scarlet, without her rival, wins her third grade one race easily...
Fusaichi Pandora and Sweep Tosho who will retire after this race followed...

The two minutes and eleven seconds was just dull and even tedious.
Daiwa jumped to the front position, and no filly or mare came in front of her till the end...
BORING...

After attending a meeting with presentations about Iraq, I headed home.
At around 9PM, it started to rain again, and though I had a portable umbrella, I took the rain pouring on my head, as I just wanted to be soaked on this unlucky day...

Back at home, the Asian Series between the Chunichi Dragons and SK Wyverns was tied at 5 runs apiece.

SK tied the game with a two run homer in the 8th inning...

The desperate Dragons scored a run on top of the 9th to take the lead but... the broadcast ended before going in to the bottom of the inning!
How unlucky can I get!!
(by the way, the Dragons went on to win the Asian Championship... with no live coverage... )