Had a great time today. Nova instructor Keyah Steele brought her acting skllls and her sultry Welsh/Bristolian accent over to my humble abode, where we laid down some voice tracks for my ongoing animation project. It helped that Keyah and I were both really into it, and had already gotten together in August for some rehearsal time.

She showed up early with the script I had given her, and we chatted about Hitchcock's cinematography, classic horror movie taglines and Keyah's new favorite, Love Actually, which she somehow got me to agree to watch with her sometime. Finally we got down to business—a 90-second, two-character scene I'll be using as the first test of my animation abilities.

Things got off to a slow start, as neither one of us had ever really done this before, but thanks to Keyah's boundless patience and some truly demented method-acting techniques (for the record: Keyah is a very trusting person), we built up a quarter-gig of sound files for me to work with. I'm really happy with the results, and can't wait to start mixing (though I've still got a lot of 3D modeling left to do).

This was, for all intents and purposes, my first real directing work in five years. In the time since I stood on the set of Ashes To Ashes, my previous directorial effort, I've tried my hand at editing, screenwriting, a whole lot of web design, and now animation, but I haven't gotten to work one-on-one with an actor in over half a decade. It felt good, which was no surprise to me, though I give much of the credit to Ms. Steele's luminous enthusiasm.

I know, I really should do this sort of thing more often. If this project turns out well, I just might. Wish me luck...

First off, I need to mention that I recently upgraded Movable Type (the server software that I use to generate this blog) and MT-Blacklist (the software I use to filter out comment spam), and as a result, there may be some cosmetic glitches on various pages throughout the site (though I'm pretty sure I got 'em all).

More importantly, there's a bug in MT-Blacklist that's causing all comments posted to the site to be delayed by a few hours. There's not much I can do about it at the moment—I just wanted to let you know.

Another casualty of the upgrade was the loss of the subscriptions. See that little box on the right? People have been submitting their e-mail addresses in there to receive updates whenever I post a new entry, but the master list seems to have been wiped out. It's not such a big deal, really. If you were a subscriber before, and you'd like to be subscribed again, just re-enter your address. Some of you may prefer to get your notifications through an RSS feed, and that's available as well.

There have been a few suggestions to the effect that the quality of the writing on The Account has taken a dive of late, and to those people I say: indeed. It's less a question of the novelty of living in Japan wearing off (believe me, it never does) than it is of my attitude towards blogging having changed. When I started writing, I was working a punishing schedule at a monolithic corporation that left me little time for recreation. For many of those first months, I didn't even have 'net access, forcing me to hunt-and-peck my way through those early chronicles in a smokey internet cafe charging three bucks an hour. It was a baffling, isolating time, offering little by way of emotional support, or any kind of support, really. In those days, just getting that stuff off my chest was a much-needed release, and a way of feeling connected to my peers back home.

But it was an expensive and time-consuming habit. Some of my longer entries took more than a day to write—my account of the Kyoto trip required well over ten hours spent preparing photos, writing descriptions, uploading and proofreading. I'm glad my five-day sightseeing experience has been preserved for future generations, but still, ten hours. Thirty bucks.

As regular readers know, life is different now. I work shorter hours, spend more time with friends, and tinker with my animation project whenever I can. If I have ten hours to spare, I'm likely to spend it shopping for microphones in Ginza, or playing darts with Daisuke, or getting my 3D character to blink properly. All of which I've done in the last week, but who wants to read a blog about that?

Ginza, dusk.

Wednesday was the day we had set aside for traveling outside of Tokyo, to see the ancient temples and shrines that every tourist should see. My original plan had been to go to Nikko, but it turns out you need a car to get around there, and neither one of us has a Japanese driver's license. So we elected instead to go to Kamakura, which I had last visited almost exactly one year ago.

Hat-clad schoolgirls on a field trip to Kamakura. Adorable!

Our guide for the trip was Daisuke, a former student of mine from my Nova days and all-around cool guy. He hadn't been to Kamakura since childhood, so it was an adventure for him, too.

Oh, and ladies, he's single.

Our journey began on the Dankazura, the cherry-tree-lined pedestrian walkway that leads to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kamakura's most famous sightseeing spot, and shrine to Hachiman, the Shinto god of war. The sun was blazing overhead; thank goodness for shaved-ice vendors. I munched on grape-flavored slush while Katherine pointed out turtles in the koi ponds.

Next, Daisuke recommended Zeniarai Benten, which we would never had found (or known about), since all the signs for it were in kanji. It was a bit of a hike, but well worth the effort. "Zeni" means "coin" in Japanese, and "Arai" means "wash." And indeed, the shrine features a small cavern whose fountain bestows good fortune on coins rinsed in its magical waters. Cave shrines like this one were one of Katherine's favorite experiences during her stay here in Japan. There's just nothing to compare them to back home.

Katherine washes her money and waits for the good fortune to roll in.

With our coins clean and shiny, we took a short taxi ride to the famed Big Buddha, which was just as impressive as the last time I saw it. Photos of the Daibutsu all look pretty much the same, but I did my best to capture the moment. Stay tuned for a cool desktop picture later this month.

The Buddha meditates in the afternoon sun.

Nearby Hase-dera was next. It was my second visit to this temple of Kannon with its renowned flower gardens, but for some reason I had never before noticed the tiny cave shrine devoted to Benzaiten, the goddess of wisdom and music. A long tunnel forces visitors to crouch before they reach her statue, which is surrounded by hundreds of tiny wooden idols. Visitor can purchase these idols, write a wish on the back, and try to nestle them into crevices where they can bask in the glory of their goddess. It's not as easy as it sounds, though. Virtually all the crevices have been taken.

From there, it was a quick train ride to Yokohama's famed Chinatown, which is a lot like San Francisco's Chinatown, only Chinesier. We wandered around for a while, looking for Daisuke's favorite, chili shrimp. Everywhere we went, barkers proclaimed the praises of their establishment's wares, which kind of cancels itself out after a few minutes. Besides, there were large photo-menus posted outside each restaurant, and every place serves virtually the same food anyway. Our stomachs grumbling, we made our choice and enjoyed a spectacular multicourse meal incorporating many tasty endangered species.

By now, the setting sun had brought the temperature down to warm-summer-night levels, so the three of us found our way to the waterfront and headed downtown along the shimmering neon waters. Small barges lit up with paper lanterns darted up and down Yokohama's riverbanks, and Daisuke explained that they were rentable "party boats"—essentially floating nightclubs.

They do look quite festive. Maybe for my next party...

Finally, weary and a little sunburned, we headed back to Ikebukuro, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Looking back, it's still hard to believe we fit so much into one day. Not shown: cherry blossom road; Benzaiten grotto; shark-fin soup.

I had to work on Monday, so Katherine headed off to Ueno's famed cluster of museums, only to discover that, just like back home, museums are closed on Mondays. Fortunately, Ueno is also famous for its sprawling, tree-filled park, so not all was lost.

I took Tuesday and Wednesday off for some round-the-clock sightseeing, weather permitting. This was typhoon season, and by the time we arrived at Harajuku station, dark clouds were already beginning to loom overhead. We made it to Meiji-jingu, the Shinto shrine at the center of Tokyo, before the skies opened up. We'd brought our umbrellas, but the winds brought the rain in at such an angle that we were pretty much soaked from the waist down.

Back at the station, we debated canceling the rest of the day's activities, only to take notice of the horde of t-shirt-clad pedestrians taking shelter in the station entrance. None of them seemed like they were heading home, so Katherine and I decided to stay put, figuring they knew something we didn't. Sure enough, within minutes the rain wore itself out, leaving a sunny drizzle in its wake. Welcome to Japan, home of the ten-minute typhoon.

Not that we were complaining. The rains never returned, and we resumed our tour of Tokyo's urban hotspots: youth fashion capital Harajuku, hip shopping metropolis Shibuya, electronic gear nirvana Akihabara, and finally Roppongi Hills, where we basked in the incredible night skyline from atop Mori Tower's 54th-floor observation lounge. If you're ever a tourist in Tokyo, pay the 1500 yen and head for the top. It's an breathtaking experience no other city can offer you.

You'll have to take my word for that, though. The reflective windows made it difficult to get good pictures, and my tiny camera couldn't have done justice to such an incredible view anyway. It's just too vast.

Here are three of the pictures that came out the best. More next time.

A lone visitor to Meiji Shrine claps his hands together to scare away evil spirits, and begins to pray.

A lot of gaijin dig Harajuku's Elephant Cafe, most especially the British ones.

In Akihabara, a tiny booth crammed with electronics stuff. One of many.

Not shown: a gleaming wet Shibuya, buzzing with foot-traffic; Roppongi Hills' extravagant polished-metal-and-glass shopping wonderland.

Sorry for the lack of updates this month, but I have a good reason: I was entertaining my very first houseguest! High-school friend Katherine flew all the way from San Francisco just to visit my little corner of Tokyo, and I did my best not to disappoint her. It was great to have an excuse to pay a return visit to some of my old favorite places, as well as to check out some of the sights I've been meaning to get to.

(To make it easier to keep track of the days, I'm taking the liberty of back-dating the next few entries, so each chronicle of Katherine's tour will be dated correctly.)

Sunday's first stop was just a short walk away: Ikebukuro's Sunshine City Aquarium. Like everything else in Tokyo, it's cramped, tiny and crowded, but the kids don't seem to mind. We didn't either.

Katherine's a better photographer than I am, and she has a cooler camera, too.

Everyone loves aquariums.

We did plenty of other stuff that day, but I didn't get pictures of everything, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Not shown: shopping for sushi fridge magnets in Tokyu Hands; getting lost looking for an ATM in Shinjuku.