Can you find the treasure?
Living here in Japan you learn to make do without a lot of foods you took for granted back home; hamburgers, Mexican food, pizza that doesn’t have corn on it…being a hardy ex-pat you learn to replace them with more available alternatives. However, every once in a while you stumble upon a gem. It becomes the high point of your day and you tell all your friends about it in a childish excited voice reminiscent of a kid talking to their parents about Christmas and Santa (pre-internet days).
Continue reading It’s the little things…
‘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 can I get there when I can’t even pronounce the name?’ He laughed. ‘Trust me, it’s worth it.’
Continue reading Blessed silence: a story of no tourists
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 don’t know, but why it came I know quite well.
Continue reading No fate…
“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 that was the end of the conversation. Too many times I had been taken away from what I was doing by people wanting to ‘speak Engrish.’ A moment later, however, he emerged from the shop and sat at the table next to me. ‘I didn’t mean to disturb you but…’
Continue reading Not what it seems…
