Hokkaido has been hit hard by the recession and in Sapporo that’s all too obvious, from people moving to Tokyo due to a lack of job openings up here, to the incredible number of vacant apartments (people moving in with their parents). For me personally the most visible sign however is the number of times I wanted to visit a particular store or restaurant and found myself in front of closed doors. Over the New Year’s holidays me and some friends headed to Kentos live music bar only to realize the place had gone out of business. I used to go there a lot in its original location on Road 36 and enjoyed fun times listening to - and looking at - the band dressed up as Elvis lookalikes and dancing the night away on the dancefloor. In their new location in the middle of Susukino they didn’t last long unfortunately. Then last week me and a friend made plans to hang out at the Oriental Grill at their Susukino branch and the entrance, big and usually lit up brightly, was completely dark and the door closed. We entered the building through a different entrance, went down the stairs to get to the Oriental Grill’s main door and then we believed it: It was closed. We headed one block west and got reconfirmed what our grandparents used to tell us - if you don’t get what you want that might actually be good for you. We found an amazing typical izakaya on the basement on one of those bottomless buildings in Susukino, and I say typical because there was a large counter where the main action took place, then tables around the counter and eventually a few private booths. Quite a bit different from the now trendy izakayas that mostly provide small booths for two to four people. We sat at the counter and not only did we have our personal, very attentive waitress in kimono, but we were also able to watch what was going on around us, and that was quite entertaining. At the other end of the counter there were two women and one of them ordered beer after beer, we counted five in all, but she was extremely skinny! We were like, wow, how can she be so thin with all the beer she’s drinking … But when we saw that she was only eating edamame soy beans the whole night it hit us - it must be true what they say: beer won’t make you fat as long as you don’t eat anything with it! And I guess that’s a secret of Japanese people, they drink as much beer as Americans but keep their waiflike bodies effortlessly. Anyway, we DID NOT drink beer, we decided to have a lot of food with sake instead. And after telling a Japanese friend about it she laughed and told me “Sake is a very high calorie drink!” I might as well have had that beer, lol. Shunkashuto, S4, W4. Phone 011-242 4040
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
This has been the best day in a long time. I took Zafiro to the vet this morning and we did an ultrasound scan on his chest. What we saw did not only make my day, it made my entire year: The lymphoma tumor appeared to be only half of the size it was a week ago, and the heart, previously pushed out of place by the tumor, was back where it belongs. We then looked at the X-rays and Zafiro’s lungs, last week deficient of oxygen, had sufficient oxygen, comparable to a healthy cat. The outlook has changed quite a bit from the initial diagnosis of 4 to 5 days to live, to 8 to 10 weeks to live (last week). This week it’s a completely different story, a new life for Zafiro, and this is his third one. 
