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Author Archives: owwls
Housekeeping
Hey! I’ve just finished a two-week jaunt on an international scale – including a hike up Mt. Aso, (pictured above) – so here’s some blog housekeeping. 1. The Bridges podcast, which features a different J-blogger every week, turned his smooth … Continue reading
Posted in Photography, Travel
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On Obon: Japan’s Homecoming Game, with Ghosts.
There’s an old Buddhist story about a monk named Mahamaudgalyayana – let’s call him Mokuren, for short – who was doing alright, as monks go, and had finally developed the skill of peering into the world of the dead.
Posted in Fun, Shrines, Thinking, Tradition, Uncategorized, Zen
Tagged ancestor worship, buddha, buddhism, holidays, hungry ghosts, japan, japanese holidays, obon, world holidays
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On Bowling in Japan
If you don’t play a sport, you’ve run out of possible conversations with about 90 percent of Japanese men. So I started lying: “I’m a bowler.” At first it was a genius move. I would never be asked to talk … Continue reading
Is Japan a “Racist Monoculture”? On Anders Breivik’s Japan
As I was leaving the train station, I heard the Japanese national anthem. People were waving flags. Some guy was shouting about “gaikokujin” (“foreigners”) through a loud-speaker. I stopped and stared until a young flag-waving woman raised her bullhorn, looked … Continue reading
On Climbing Mount Fuji (With a Fear of Heights)
About 300,000 people a year climb Mt. Fuji. A handful of them die. Very few of them get panic attacks from standing on porches. I’m acrophobic: Seven feet high and I’m nervous. Higher up I get dizzy; at 30 feet … Continue reading
On Being the Fattest
Not every kid in Japan cares about learning English, and so they use class time to work toward other life goals: Homework from other classes, arm wrestling contests or listening to their talking dictionaries pronounce various euphemisms for sex. Recently, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture Shock, Food, Uncategorized, Weird
Tagged fat, health, japan, obesity, pig, weight loss
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