Category Archives: Thinking

On Always Having an Empty Train Seat Beside You in Japan

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

On a recent trip to the near-abandoned coal mining town of Tagawa, I took the wrong train three times, taking me into the true inaka – Japan’s rural backwater.

Posted in Culture Shock, Thinking, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

On Letting Go of a Tree Branch in Japan

Posted on April 4, 2012 by

There’s about 4,000 kids outside my apartment screaming about cherry blossoms. 

Posted in Culture Shock, Homesickness, Thinking, Tradition, Zen | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

On Going to a Gay Bar in Japan

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

The night starts by asking a cab driver to take you to a school. It’s 11 p.m. and you have no business going to a school at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, so the driver heads toward the school … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Shinto, Tradition, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

On Running in Japan

Posted on February 1, 2012 by

For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. – Wallace Stevens, “The Snowman” Japan makes me anxious.

Posted in Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

The Winter Haiku Forecast

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

“Writing shit about new snow for the rich is not art.” – Kobayashi Issa (trans. Robert Hass)

Posted in Thinking, Tradition | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Singing Karaoke with Foucault

Posted on November 16, 2011 by

“In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates.” – Michel Foucault, Of Other Spaces If there was a ship to escape Japanese culture in, the paint on … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Thinking, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments