Blessed silence: a story of no tourists

‘Amanokuchi-whatsa,’ the word stumbled out of my mouth like a handful of scrabble letters. ‘What the heck is that?’ ‘Kochidaniamadaji. It’s a temple up in the mountains past Sanzenin. Trust me Mike, you gotta go there,’ Joe assured me. I looked at him a bit incredulously, ‘Go there? How [...]

No fate…

Sarah Conner

As I left work today, stepped out the door and into the night a line from Terminator 2 crept from somewhere in the back of my mind and slipped from my lips.  I said it not once, not twice, but three times.  Each iteration resonating stronger and stronger.  Where it came from I [...]

Not what it seems...

“Good evening” an older Japanese man said to me in English as he passed, entering the coffee shop I was sitting in front of.  I looked up from my computer where I was doing some work and replied, ‘good evening.’  My eyes once again focusing on the screen in front of me I secretly hoped [...]

It ain't all fun and games

Something struck me the other day as I watched a young Japanese girl pound away at the multi-colored keys of an arcade machine blaring loud techno music.  On screen little colored blocks floated down to the beat in a steady stream, the goal being to push the right button at the exact moment it reached [...]