I Cracked the Grandma Code with Chocolate and Rice Balls
When at first someone politely declines your chocolate or tea, try, try again—but sneakier.
If a train could teach you the meaning of life…
The trains will go regardless of whether or not I am on them.
Fourteen Miles in Tokyo
The air on the platform is heavy under the city. The train arrives in a pungent, metallic breeze. No seats now.
Be Nude, Not Rude
The first time I showered in the public space, my entrance came as no surprise to anyone but me.
The (Non-)Contradiction of Belief and Unbelief
Doubt and faith, though mutually contradictory, can be gently held together.
A Perfect Ending: A Review of Japan Sinks 2020
There’s no cosmic explanation, for better or worse.
Umeboshi No Tsukurikata, or How to Make Red Fermented Plums
I’ve come to appreciate this about Haruko. When I would rather stick to polite smiles and communication mediated by Shiki, she speaks Japanese at me and throws in English words, gestures, and images until I understand.
Tea and Tranquility
“…a rediscovery of the sacred in the immanent, the spiritual within the secular… it is our everyday world, not some other one, that, in the words of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘is charged with the grandeur of God.’” ~Harvey Cox, The Future of Faith...
Japanude
I got naked with a bunch of old men and tried to figure out how to wash my booty without insulting anyone, and that pretty much sums up my trip to Japan.
