Even if we don’t write historical stories, or military suspense with technical details, all writers have one subject which they must all research: happiness and how humans pursue it. Even the most evil of evil villains, we believe, is motivated by their own belief that their actions... More...

A post at Betsy Lerner’s wonderful blog, today, asked why those of us afflicted with narrative disorder at a young age began to write. It sparked a memory of the very first time I ever showed my writing to anyone and, since upon leaving Japan this blog will return to focusing more on... More...

The last few days, I’ve been playing with a little desktop photo processing toy which I discovered through one of the photography blogs I follow. It’s called Camera Bag and it’s a hoot! I believe it began as an iPhone app but it is now available for both Mac and PC desktops. Essentially, it applies a number of filtering effects... More...

Considering the ease with which one can get to Osaka from Nagoya and the number of times I have been back and forth to Kyoto and Tokyo, it does seem odd that we had not visited Japan’s second largest city till last weekend. Our only real pull was that we felt we “should” go, so, when Superman’s parents expressed... More...

Anyone who cooks even slightly, and probably many people who don’t, gives at least some thought to buying a knife or two when they come to Japan. It wouldn’t be stretching the metaphor too thin to equate a chef’s knives to a Samurai’s swords so it makes sense that many cooks dream of having knives forged using the same methods... More...

After the flurry of posts the week before last, I spent last week in a similar flurry of busyness which kept me from blogging – every bit of it utterly enjoyable! Highlights were: A birthday/bon voyage night at Red Rock for my friend NZ. K who is going home for a few weeks for the first time in quite a while. Good luck,  K, ... More...