(The picture that appears here was painted by a local artist, my friend Hironaka Susumu.) The word on everyone’s lips, with regard to Japan, it seems, is discipline. Influencers use it to rhapsodize about Japanese society. “Everyone is so disciplined here!” they sigh when they see, for example, little kids going to school by themselves on public transport or people lining up to get on one side of an escalator. They see the surface, but they don’t or can’t understand what’s be

I did a blog (# 40) before, entitled End of Year Thoughts, which was at the end of 2021. I decided I need to do another one, four years on, before I reach my arbitrary 100-blog limit.  Here are some of the things that occupy my thoughts in the runup to 2026. Happy holidays to all, and Happy Solstice which I always wish people around this time. The days are going to start getting longer and brighter (and, eventually, warmer) from now on. That’s a good thought.   This winter in

I’ve lived in Japan for a lot of years (almost half a century!) and have enjoyed and experienced many of the traditional art forms. And I’m not done; just recently I had a chance in Kyoto to try kumi-himo, a complicated way of braiding strands of silk to make decorative cords of varying sizes and complexities. Though it was rather hard on the back to sit upright and unsupported and move my arms in a repetitive pattern for almost an hour, it was an enjoyable experience. I real

It has been one year yesterday since I dislocated my right shoulder, probably the foremost injury of my adult life. I’d like to relive...

(The picture shows a scene I sketched in the summer of this year when my husband took me to a deserted beach on eastern Lake Biwa near...

In a recent blog (“Zen and the Art of Weeding Revisited”) I talked about weeding, a neverending summer activity, and a few things I have...

A few summers ago I went to the next-door neighbor (a carpenter) to complain that the smoke from their incinerator was blowing into our...

(I have of course participated in Japanese funerals before, including that of my mother-in-law (MIL), at which I was one of the chief...

Happy Solstice everyone. This is the moment at the top of the roller coaster of the year, when the day is longest and the night shortest...

Excuse the long silence! My life has been filled with green – new green leaves on every tree, green scuzz increasing to green swathes of...

Sorry to be so late in posting this blog! I have been busy with other stuff recently and didn’t feel like adding “write blog” to the list...

(The photo shows a front path lined with vetch, Vicia sativa (karasu endo) which I try to keep to a minimum, although I have heard this...

This title comes from one of my favorite movies, Contact , starring Jodie Foster as a scientist who discovers alien intelligence. Her...

I’ve been looking around at my world recently. It’s really too cold to do anything else, although there is a lot to do both inside and...

Very happy Winter Solstice to you! Although it will remain cold for awhile longer, we are definitely already on the upswing as far as...

Recently I listened to a podcast in which they talked about traditional Japanese crafts, which are swiftly disappearing. He mentioned...

(The picture is a painting I did around 2016 of a plate I bought in England which subsequently got broken. The background is the kitchen...

Picture shows where I usually get up and down from my kitchen (right) and bath (upper left) showing steps. Black tile area is a shoe...

(The photo shows the scene of the accident, a little bit cleaned up since then.)   Last Monday morning I was working in a corner of our...

Equinox Sept. 20, 2024 The title of this blog is also my favorite slogan, but recently I’ve taken to adding, “But you must be patient.”...