it's not life that matters but the journey...

The big news here in Japan is that Koizumi's party, the LDP, has won the big election in a landslide.  So, not only will Koizumi stay in office, but he will also push ahead his postal privatization issue, which had been voted down last month.  If you are interested, here is the article in the Japan
Times:  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050912a1.htm

I think that people in Japan were not ready for the kind of changes that would have taken place with a new prime minister:  for example, Masahiko told me that some of the other parties were proposing big tax increases, and people like us, who don't work for big companies, would have to pay three times as much for our monthly pension (which allows us health coverage).  So, we are thankful that Koizumi-san is still in office!  Even though he did bring Japan into the war in Iraq, and he has been seen chumming with George W., I do have a lot of respect for Koizumi - he is very strong and unlike most of the leaders this country has had in the past.

As for us, we had an uneventful weekend.  I tutored Mrs. Ogawa and the kids on Friday afternoon and had a good time, and then Saturday I taught four classes at the school in Shizuoka.  That was the extent of my working outside the home.  I am going to start making lesson plans from home that Naoko can use for the adult classes (I'll get paid a little bit for each lesson).  Otherwise, we are still waiting for the wallpaper to be replaced in our future classroom - after the room is all ready to go, we have to make a sign and then distribute the pamphlets and wait for students.  Good news, though:  Masahiko has already found two adult students for me, people he met at the bar where he has been playing jazz a few times a month.  So, at least we have something to start with . . . if we can ever get it started!!

Yesterday, I bought a very inexpensive yoga mat and practiced with my yoga tape for the first time in a long time - it was very relaxing and felt so good to stretch my legs and back.  I have to try to practice yoga a few times a week so that I can become more flexible - and stay more focused.  I'm still waiting for the weather to cool off enough that I can start jogging again.  Its still unbearably hot and humid - on Saturday, it was like a sauna outside, even at 8 oclock at night!

Finally, I watched the movie "Thirteen" which came out a couple years ago - it had a lot of publicity because the screenplay was written by the 13-year-old actress who plays one of the main roles in the movie (she was 14 when she was in the movie).  I thought it was incredibly well acted (Holly Hunter plays the single mom and is incredibly good!) and very eye-opening - but of course it was quite heavy and depressing too.  It gives me a whole new respect for anyone who has survived the raising of teenagers (my parents included!) - especially those parents who have raised teenaged girls and kept their daughters from turning to "the dark side" (drugs, theft, sex, self-mutilation etc...).  I'm not sure how realistic the movie really is - I mean its set in Los Angeles, and the girls are extremely grown up (getting their tongue pierced, smoking pot, experimenting with sex, stealing money and clothes).  I am hopeful that there are still some innocent teenagers out there who don't feel the need to grow up so fast or live so fast!  When I was 13, I wasn't even yet wearing makeup and I was still really a little girl - boys and drugs were things I couldn't even imagine, much less bring into my actual world.  I was playing Ms. Pacman and practicing my clarinet every day! (the truth comes out - I was a teenage GEEK)  But then again I was a teenager in the early '80s and things were so much different then.  The whole world was different then.  I feel thankful that I grew up when and where I did - and with the parents that I had!  Kids in America are growing up too fast these days - we need to slow them down!!