Due to a recent lack of funds, I've been unable to buy books. English language books are, of course, import items here, and as such they demand top yen. Typically, a paperback can cost between 2000 - 3500 yen ( about $25 - $40), and I just haven't had the extra cash to invest. There is a library I know about that has English books, but it's about a half hour away by train. Luckily, when people leave Japan, they usually don't pack up their books and take them, so there's a good lump of used books floating around between us here in Little Canada. I have about 150 books here, and I think I've read 90 % of them. (Any Morinomiyans reading this - drop by; take 'em away)…

Another good source for used books is the magic shelf at my company's office - lately, I've been swapping out paperbacks there. Employees take a book, leave a book. The problem with this is, there's no accounting for taste. The shelf looks like the literary equivalent of a box for a food drive - pumpkin pie filling, sardines and trial paks of baking soda. Lots of Danielle Steele, Tom Clancy and John Grisham floating around - sometimes two or three copies of the same book. Ignoring conventional wisdom, I usually judge a book by its cover, and if the author's name is larger than anything else, or if it is in embossed silver letters, I pass. If it appears that the characters may have been created with the sole aim of fitting the eventual actor's script demands, I'll wait - until it's "Now a Major Motion Picture!!".

So, because I've been poor, I read my first Grisham novel last week - The Street Lawyer. I'm not sure if this thing has been turned into a blockbuster yet, but I'd love to see how much the screenplay re-write costs the backers. I won't go into it, but suffice it to say, I think this is the book that could disprove the ' book is always better than the movie' theory.

So the magic shelf is picked clean, my own library is used up, and I can't afford new books. I turn to the paper. I was never much of a newspaper reader, for the same reason I don't usually watch the 11 O'clock news - it's just plain depressing. I trust the rise and fall of economies and empires will carry on without my scrutiny, and all the important sports (hockey) news turns up daily on my computer. But lately I've been reading the paper every day - the Daily Yomiuri costs just 120yen, and I know a few reliable places to buy the English-language version. Not only is it a cheap source of reading material, it gives me fodder for warm-up conversations with students. Discussing current events with students has shown me the extent of something that I've read about, but not experienced until now - the amazing propensity of the Japanese government and media for self-censorship. The differences between the English and Japanese editions of the Yomiuri show just how much the Japanese public isn't told.

Examples and further amateurish analysis next time….I'm late for work.