David Chart's Japan Diary

May 16th 2005

This has been a busy week, although with much of it being work, there isn't a great deal to say about most of it. (I fear that this will happen with increasing frequency as my life in Japan becomes a normal life. The real Japan, like the real everywhere, is full of people earning a living in fairly mundane and boring ways.)

I gave my first Tokyo English lesson on Thursday, but I have no idea how it went. I never do. I suppose if the student gets back in touch to organise follow-ups, it went well. Flat-hunting also continued, and that is going well. I won't be buying a flat where I live now, because I can't afford it, so that might disrupt the teaching, too.

The main other activity was the second installment of the Ars Magica saga I'm playing in, which was yesterday. This time there was slightly less faffing around and slightly more forward progress involved. None of the magi actually managed to blow themselves up, although one came pretty close. If you think you might play in Calebais, stop reading now, because there will be spoilers. Actually, if you're in the saga, stop reading now, because I'm going to reveal things that I know as a result of editing the scenario.

The initial investigation in the scenario revolves around a missing woman and reports of strange, goat-like monsters. This provoked extensive discussion of how the wizards could make a goat look like a goat-like monster, and have the magic last long enough to convince the villagers that they problem was solved. Personally, I support actually solving the problem, but then I know that it's soluble.

After some leg work and a bit of magical research the magi confirmed that there was a regio, and are of the belief that the missing person is inside the regio. They also found the riddle to get through the Veil of Mormool, and solved it.

The key to the riddle involves the wording of a number of cryptic phrases spoken by magical guides; you have to follow them in the right order. Our storyguide, Miyamoto Yoko, had translated the whole riddle into Japanese, preserving the key pattern, which must have taken a while. Solving it was a co-operative effort during which I studiously said nothing at all, since I already knew the answer. It took remarkably little time; I suppose that, like most riddles, it's entirely possible to just see the answer all of a sudden.

At this point, we were near finishing time, so we wound the session up there. Two sessions and we have yet to actually enter Calebais. Still, at least we now know the way in, and there is a good chance that we will enter next time. We might also spend much of next session dealing with the other regio; it depends on what the other players decide. I can't contribute to planning because, well, I know rather too much.

Other trivial stuff. The weather is glorious today, so I'm airing my futon and doing my washing. I have discovered that things can, indeed, run in the drier, and I'm hoping that I can recover from that minor upset. (Stop Press: It looks like I can. Re-washing the articles in question seems to have worked.)

Oh yes. My air-conditioner was broken, so the maintenance guy came round to have a look at it, and it now seems to be OK. It's been running for a while to check, so I'll probably turn it off again soon. No point running my electricity bill up too much.