The title image is The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. Do you recognize it? Likely yes, since this image has the highest recognition value of any Japanese work of art. Title image courtesy of Wikipedia. No copyright infringement is intended. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa: History If I’m right, you’ve seen The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. […]
Wealth Whispers is Book III in my shapeshifter series. It will be out in December. In the meantime I want to share with you some of the fun I had putting the story together. I begin with my Yakuza research. First, what’s yakuza? They are Japanese gangsters. The word refers either to one or all […]
In my continuing writing recovery from my pandemic-induced writing death, I am following my own advice: Read, read, read! Luckily, I stumbled across a book the other day that took me on the exact right path. What I need more than anything right now are tranquil reads. And I found three. How delightful that they […]
Where to start? There are so many famous Japanese. Title image: Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543-1616), founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that effectively ruled Japan from 1600 – 1868. I did not, however, include him on my list below. I focused on more recent figures. But, as historical figures go, Tokugawa was a bad ass. Famous Japanese: […]
Iwasakisan and his wife, Yoshiko, took Gerard, Rimi and me to Kyoto for a day-trip. Here is Iwasakisan at the lunch we had that day. He is a totally cool guy. But now I am ahead of myself. Kyoto: Genkō-an Temple First we went to the Zen temple of Genkō-an. Every view is curated, I […]
(Un)translatables – my term – are words in one language that may take a paragraph to explain in another language … and still not quite get it right. (Title Image: Hokkaido University, kanji: ‘Japanese language’) All languages have them. Japanese has some really good ones. (Un)translatables in Japanese: The Bad #1 . hikikomori hiki = […]
Nara, Japan: Going There, Getting There Question: What to do on a Sunday afternoon? Answer: Hop a train and go to Nara. It’s the capital of Japan’s Nara Prefecture in south-central Honshu. It was the capital of Japan in the 8th century. The reason to go there is for the statue of the 8th-century Virocana Buddha, […]
Futon daiko is the word in Japanese for the kind of portable shrine pictured in the title image. Last week there was a futon daiko festival in Akashi, a town a good hour or more west of Osaka. My son, Gerard, is somewhere in the title image, but I can’t tell you where. futon = bed; […]
I arrived in Japan last week, my major stop being Nishinomiya where I’n visiting with my younger son, Gerard. Nishinomiya is between Osaka and Kobe, and I’ve been here before. I specifically requested my lodging to be Yakkoryokan. Because it’s a popular place, Gerard made reservations here for me a long time ago. Since it is […]
Sunday, April 21, was Easter. Gerard and I went to the general meeting of the Nishinomiya Shrine. It is located in none other than Nishinomiya City. Nishinomiya Shrine: The Shinto God Ebisu The shrine honors Ebisu, the Japanese god of fishermen and luck. He is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, which makes him […]