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Author Archives: owwls
On Living In the Wrong Neighborhood in Japan
Imagine moving to a neighborhood and finding that suddenly, your friends and family are ashamed of you. Employers turn you down when you tell them your address, your fiancee tells you her family is threatening to disown her if she … Continue reading
On Finding God in a Gourd in Naoshima (In Japan)
“Architecture appears for the first time when the sunlight hits a wall. The sunlight did not know what it was before it hit a wall.” ― Louis Kahn Freud claimed God was only the lingering memory of our parents, looming over us … Continue reading
41 Things I Like About Japan
Sometimes I worry that all I’ve done is complain.
On Being Bullied in Japan
I have been overwhelmed by the sweetness of Japanese kids. One student, seeing me without an umbrella, ran backward through the rain to walk with me under hers. Another classroom, after a lesson on how Christmas was different in America, … Continue reading
On Caring About Your Lonely Friends in Japan
Not everyone who moves to Japan is lonely when they arrive, but most are by the time they leave. One can’t reasonably complain about it, of course: We do it to ourselves. But we can try to understand how loneliness … Continue reading
On Losing Control in Japan
America, Japan has a question for you.
