Tokyo — Our First Full Day Well, the camera filter saga continues. No replacement yet, although H’s camera has been safely tucked away in my enormous puffer purse, awaiting a visit to a REAL camera shop. At this point, I think the camera and I are having a disagreement about who is actually in charge. […]
japan
Japan, At Last! (Or: The Walls Actually Move!)
Tokyo, October 29-30 2026 — Arrival Day “The walls actually move! And the ceiling itself is moveable!” That was my very first line as the (not particularly nice) Lieutenant Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. I was in eighth grade. Yes, eighth grade. (I’ll wait while you catch up to the implications of that statement . […]
Thermonuclear Corgis (in Sweaters)
Cold station platform thermonuclear corgis snuggle in my gloves I have been slowly purchasing items for both my Fall and Winter Japan trips on Amazon. After reading reviews, I intended to buy “a few” Korean warming pads to test for Winter Japan. What arrived instead was a surprisingly dense box containing thirty thermonuclear lava corgis. […]
Living Continuity — the Volcano, the Barge, the Sword, the Tea, the Candles
There is a thread I keep discovering in my life that I did not consciously plan. Not travel.Not tourism.Not “bucket list” behavior. Something quieter. Participation. Or maybe more precisely: A desire to briefly enter living traditions. Not to master them. Simply to touch them honestly for a little while. That realization arrived sideways, the way […]
Japan Objects
I think the objects knew before I ever did where we all would go After I wrote the Ariats post, several people messaged me some version of: “Only you could turn boot shopping into an existential archaeology project.” This is fair. But I have been realizing something lately. Something adjacent to the boots, but perhaps […]
Past, In Boots
I have not yet been to Japan even once. Yes, I know this seems improbable, given my Japanese history and language immersion during college, karate years, Japanese Buddhist husband, and current obsession with Iaido. True, though. And so, naturally, I am already planning my “return” trip. This is how my mind works. I have one […]
Next Trip: Africa! (Then Vancouver…then Japan…)
Coming up in February/March, I’m off with Overseas Adventure Travel again, this time to Africa. The overview is HERE, the day-to-day itinerary is HERE. I am doing the pre- and post-trips as well, then staying an extra couple of days in Namibia, at a Cheetah Conservation Organization that Herbert and I have supported for decades. […]