Long Time Expat In Japan
I've put pen to paper, figuratively, in the last year or so. I've had ideas for a long time, including short fiction. Here is the first part of one. If you want to be a beta-reader, send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll share it with you. --- From hitokoto, the … Continue reading Short Story Exerpt – From hitokoto, the blog of Chianna Noguchi
Book Review Red Rising By Pierce Brown You might see a pattern in my book reviews lately, Bone Clocks, Annihilation, all recent fantasy award winners or mentions. And now Red Rising, which seems to straddle genres. I have been disappointed with some scifi awards, not only with the politics, but also the quality of the … Continue reading Book Review – Red Rising
I've been writing about how Japan is weird, and how I have come to think of it as not so weird anymore. What I haven't written about is just how beautiful the place is. I don't get out enough. I spend a lot of time - like the rest of us - with my head … Continue reading Japan is Beautiful
Book Review Saint Odd by Dean Koontz At the beginning of the year I reviewed a bunch of Odd Thomas books. I read a bunch of them back to back. It was kind of like binge watching your favorite show on Netflix. For TV, that can often be a lot of fun. Many shows now … Continue reading Book Review – Saint Odd
The first installment of my "Japan is weird, sort of" posts. As a reminder, these are things I used to find weird, but actually really like, now that I've lived here for 17 years. Bathrooms Twenty five years ago, I saw my first squat toilet. It was a big deal, even a traumatic experience. But … Continue reading Japan is Awesome – the bathroom
I've spent more of my adult life in Japan than in my home country. I came to that realization the other day. It shouldn't have been such a realization. Simply do the math. Assuming 18 as an adult, I've lived 31 years as such (that makes me 49 for the arithmetic challenged). I live in … Continue reading My “Japan is weird – sort of” Series
Book Review Annihilation: a Novel By Jeff VanderMeer The fantasy/mystery novel hooked me at the beginning, but failed to keep my interest the whole way through. I did read it all the way through, however. I've decided to stop reading mediocre writing anymore, so it passed that bar. A couple of things pulled me in; … Continue reading Book Review – Annihilation: a Novel
My good friend and partner in blogdom, JT, posted recently that he has "been discovered" by the Russian Spambot Overlords. With 50 pageviews from Russia, where he knows no one (I assume), compared to 28 from the US, where the vast majority of his friends live. I almost never check my own stats; I'm not … Continue reading Spambot Overlords
I am way too excited that I leveled up in Kanji last month. I had been struggling a little bit. When I have to stay within the rules, write textbook style, I tense up and really don't do well. I've been doing this for over a year now (since September of 2014, so 15 months?), … Continue reading Level Up! Kanji ! and Kana, both!
This month's kanji reads hakugan soushin in Japanese, or baiyan shuangxin in Chinese. Like a lot of these four character sayings, it evokes sense imagery and invites you to fill in the gaps. Hakugan (baiyan) means white goose. Sou (shuang) means frost. And shin (xin) means to believe, to know, to inform. Long story short, when … Continue reading November Shodo
B.S. Donovan 