FEBRUARY

02/01 (Sunday)
Another eleven months and 2004 is over! How time flies.

02/04 (Wednesday)
I finally finish watching "Ryoma's Journey,"* a show I taped off TV on New Year's. Is it just me, or are the main characters in these historical dramas always superstars--larger than life? I always want to see them having to deal with normal people problems, too.

*Sakamoto Ryoma = a pro-imperial politician involved with the upheaval of Japan's government in 1868.

02/05 (Thursday)
Our cable television is doing a Gamera marathon! Not just the new ones, of course-they're showing all the originals from the 60's, too! All right!

02/11 (Wednesday)
Was today supposed to be a national holiday? I ended up going to work, oblivious. Which is fine, since I did have work to do.

02/12 (Thursday)
Photo shoot for the concert pamphlet. I've often wondered why there are so many places serving baked eel in Kanda-that's the part of Tokyo where the photography studio is located.I LOVE eel. If I had known there were so many eel places in Kanda, I wouldn't have eaten lunch before coming here...

02/13 (Friday)
Interview for "Mahoroba." People like the sound. Phew. See Hamaguchi-san for the first time in a while. There's less than a month left before the concert begins! I've got lots to do, and little time to do it in!

02/14 (Saturday)
Valentine's Day. "I think we're past chocolates by now..." says my wife. So she treats me to a Korean barbeque dinner. We eat (from least expensive to most): high-quality beef, matured beef, special-quality beef, and a fine type of Japanese beef. I find the high-quality beef and matured beef the tastiest...I guess I'm just cheap at heart.

02/15 (Sunday)
I go to buy puzzle rings.*But I don't find any to my liking and return empty-handed. Do you get as madly into those things as I do?

*Child's toy of small interconnecting metal rings.

02/16 (Monday)
I hand over my accumulated writings to Enterbrain. The deadline was... the end of last year. Hmmm... I get it! This means I can turn in everything a month and a half late! Wrong!

02/17 (Tuesday)
Meeting to plan the Human Academy lecture tour, which starts the day after tomorrow. I'm off to Sapporo (Hokkaido)! I'm going to track down this oft-rumored "Soup Curry" they have up there, and eat it.

02/19 (Thursday)
First day of promotion for the "TOUR de JAPON," promotion for "Mahoroba," and the Human Academy Lecture Tour in Sapporo. I eat Sapporo Ramen and a Mongolian Hot Pot!

02/20 (Friday)
Second day of promotion for the "TOUR de JAPON," promotion for "Mahoroba," and the Human Academy Lecture Tour in Sapporo. I eat "Soup Curry" (I did find it) and seafood.

02/21 (Saturday)
Third day of promotion for the "TOUR de JAPON," promotion for "Mahoroba," and the Human Academy Lecture Tour in Sapporo. Uni (sea-urchin) on rice and local microbrew beer are on my menu today.

02/22 (Sunday)
First day of promotion for the "TOUR de JAPON," promotion for "Mahoroba," and the Human Academy Lecture Tour in Nagoya. I have Azuki (sweet bean) Cappucino and Nagoya Cochin (chicken).

02/23 (Monday)
Second day of promotion for the "TOUR de JAPON," promotion for "Mahoroba," and the Human Academy Lecture Tour in Nagoya. I eat Hitsumabushi (a local variation on the baked eel rice-bowl).

02/24 (Tuesday)
The FF concert planned in Los Angeles has been announced in the U.S. It looks like there's been quite a response. Maybe we should plan a tour package so people from Japan can go see it in the States?

02/25 (Wednesday)
Hot. We've had decidedly un-February-like weather recently. I rarely feel like working when it's this warm...not that I do when it's cold, either.

02/26 (Thursday)
Meeting to prepare for the concerts. We're starting to get into the nitty-gritty details... In the afternoon, I tape Uematsu Radio and hold an MC meeting.

02/28 (Saturday)
Order some bifocals to be ready for the concert. What a kick-ass frame! You can't fold the side-pieces on these babies... know what I'm saying? No?

02/29 (Sunday)
Lecture for the Human Academy. Meet Mr. Yoshiki Okamoto for the first time. I get the rumors now... he does seem (on first glance) like he's up to something. Okamoto-san, the board game was fun!