Long Time Expat In Japan
Book Review (spoilers) The Red By Linda Nagata Just finished reading The Red. I got an actual paperback for a change. I was reading through some award nominees and also JohnnScalzi's blog. I came across a Big Idea on the blog for the sequel to The Red. And I also saw it was nominated for … Continue reading Book Review – The Red
Went away last weekend to Nagano with the fam. I asked them where they'd like to go if they had a weekend and this is what they picked. They picked it because of a TV show, Taiga Drama. It is a period drama, usually with lots of swords, horses, armor, and the like. This one … Continue reading Nagano
Fuji. Never climbed the mountain, only looked at it from afar. Feels wrong, having spent 20 years or so in the country. But I do get nearby for work. So I took a detour on the way back home last time. Took a couple of pics from a lake in Yamanashi. It wasn't the perfect … Continue reading Mount Fuji
I give myself one day a week to eat junk food; cake, ice cream, pasta carbonara with extra bacon. This past weekend I went McD's before meeting some friends in Ikebukuro. I'd thought for the longest time that McD's should make a Big Mac with Quarterpounder burgers. Then they advertised the Grand Big Mac. I … Continue reading Mega Mac
I love my sensei. She's a peach, really. She also doesn't pull punches. Been plugging away. Ranked up in kana a bunch of times, kanji a little less. But my pen writing just hasn't budged. Last month sensei likened my pen writing to that of stroke victims she knows. I think it is time to take … Continue reading Break Time
Last month, I submitted some hiragana that was in a really old style, more like really cursive kanji. It was a lot of fun because you can kind of see where modern hiragana comes from. To be honest, half the time I didn't know what I was writing. I just copied what I saw. Still, … Continue reading Hiragana
More figurative pen to paper. If you want to be a beta-reader, please send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll share the rest of the story. --- Old Enough She was twenty three, and I was two hundred ninety one. We met in the ring city above Solaris, the planet where … Continue reading Story Exerpt – Old Enough
Japan's relationship with nature is weird, and beautiful. You can't put it succinctly. There's too much history. In many ways, it is much more evolved than in the states. There aren't many Japanese politicians that disbelieve in climate change. Part of the attitude in Japan must come from the intense urbanization of the country. Some … Continue reading Japan is Awesome – Nature
Image thanks to NASA.gov More figurative pen to paper. If you want to be a beta-reader, please send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll share the rest of the story. --- Then Maybe We're Broken This is the story of how we ended conquest, war, hunger, and disease. This is how … Continue reading Short Story Excerpt – Then Maybe We’re Broken
I recently read The Reason I Jump, by Naoki Higashida, translated into English by David Mitchell and KA Yoshida. This is not typical reading for me, but there are more than just a few reasons for me to pick this up. I don't read many Japanese books, even translated in English. Surprising, considering I live … Continue reading A Boy’s Voice from the Silence of Autism
B.S. Donovan 