It's finally hot. Really, really hot. I'm hiding indoors under both air conditioning and a fan, trying not to move. I admit it, I hate the heat. I'm not sure I've ever really liked it. I always feel trapped... you can usually escape the cold by piling on the clothing and blankets.. but in the summer here you sweat even when you're buck naked. There's nothing to do but walk around completely soaked all the time. Ugh. I'm quite thankful not to live anywhere near Tokyo where the concrete and massive buildings trap in the heat until the entire city is par-broiled and they have to shut off all the power because there just isn't any and every body just turns into a lukewarm puddle.

But of course, I am visiting Tokyo, so I am pretending to embrace my oncoming puddle status... but failing miserably. I hate being hot.

Other than that, I'm having a great visit! Akko and I successfully recognized each other in the train station yesterday.. and have since picked back off from where our friendship left off seven years ago. She flattered me by claiming my Japanese has actually improved since then, which though I find hard to believe, would redeem the my last 4 attempts to commit to learning this darn language!!

We spent the afternoon bumming around at her place. She just got married and moved into the house that her husband had been living in by himself. They promptly ripped out all the old tatami mats and created a beautiful wood floor, then added a outdoor porch and finished the renovation by randomly painting bold colors all over the house: kitchen cabinets are red, bath window frames are blue, one bookshelf is bright green, etc. In one room the curtains are bright orange and in the other they are dark purple. Its really great. The house is tiny, only two rooms plus the kitchen and bath and hallway, and it is crammed with a ton of interesting nick-nacks, books, photos, and artwork. They are both artists and I imagine anyone would guess as much from looking around their home. Its very comfortable and cheerful. They say that "if" I wanted to move this direction, the homes & apartments are very cheap and they have entire army of friends who would be more than happy to keep a bargain spotting eye out for me. Good to know...

Last night we sat around with another of their artist friends and had homemade takoyaki- fried octopus balls (check the photos). They were delicious! It was nice to relax with friends and also exhausting to speak so much continuous Japanese!! I Akko and her husband's freedom to work at their own pace and schedule the rest of their day to day around when they aren't creating art.

Just finished a book, too... "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki. Its a novel about a Japanese-American woman who begins to work on a Japanese TV show that portrays American "wives" and their meat recipes to a Japanese audience. In the end, she learns a lot about the dark side of the meat industry. The book bounces back and forth between the States and Japan, which I found really entertaining. A good one, if you manage to pick it up.