Bloom In Japan

Well the circus has continued. It seems as though the Japanese government may have found someone gullible enough to take over NOVA. The problem is that this doesn’t do much to help out teachers or staff as far as money is concerned. Even if a company took over NOVA in its entirety, it would still be doubtful that we would see back wages, as they would probably restart everything under a new name and contract. We may be able to have a job though, which would be better than nothing I suppose. They are supposed to announce everything next week, so we shall see. As far as the scandal itself, the press here has been crucifying the moronic president. It seems as though the man could indeed be going to jail for a long time when all is said and done. Embezzlement, fraud, insider trading, etc etc etc. The man is a real class act. It was a real treat seeing his 3,000,000 Yen per month office, with 70,000,000 Yen worth of furnishings being paraded across television the past week. His “office” is more like a freaking love hotel, complete with sauna, twin bed, tea ceremony room, plasma TVs, and probably a hidden shrine to himself as god. It’s nice to know that the fucker was living his life of luxury while selling off his stake in the company and dooming fools like myself to a life of eating instant ramen and rice. If or hopefully when they actually catch up to the guy, I hope he is paired with an unfortunate cell mate in jail. Words can’t describe my disgust for the man.

In other news, I have decided on a new residence, and will be moving within 2 weeks. I have chosen a guest house in Ikebukuro, which is the closest section of downtown Tokyo to here. My room will be 50% larger, the house itself is decent enough, and the location is excellent. I will be within walking distance of every major subway/train line in Tokyo, which will save me tons of money in itself. Unfortunately I will be a good hour away from the woman, but I’m sure we will figure something out.

Yesterday was an interesting day. Thanks to a photographer from London, I can now pull a Zoolander and go around saying “I’m a model, idiot”. I spent the entire afternoon posing like a moron in various locations in Tokyo. The highlight of the day was doing a shoot in the middle of the clusterfuck that is Shibuya (the insanely crowded place featured in Lost in Translation). As we were shooting, a crowd of literally 30-40 people gathered around and began taking their own pictures with cameras and cell phones. Just another surreal moment in this crazy place. Unfortunately the gig was non-paying, but I got some free food and drink, and will be receiving a DVD full of all the pictures for use in my portfolio. All in all it was a fun experience, and well worth it.

Beyond that, I have been busy in general and have plenty of stuff that I need to throw up on the page. I start training tomorrow with the new company, so that will be quite exciting. I need to head into Tokyo right now though, so that I can try to find a cheap black suit for the new job. Until next time, peace outs.