Category Archives: Thinking

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 , , | 15 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 , , , | 4 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 , , | 1 Comment

On Demonic Umbrellas and Japanese Banking

Posted on October 26, 2011 by

In Japan, many ATMs work from 9 to 5 and get weekends and holidays off. That’s better than most humans get. And the reason, I suspect, has more to do with ghosts than any bank is willing to admit.

Posted in Culture Shock, Shinto, Shrines, Thinking, Tradition, Weird | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

On Seasons, or: On Poets Taking Over the Japanese Meteorological Service

Posted on October 19, 2011 by

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – The Great Gatsby There’s a central body in Japan that declares the coming and going of rain. That means that there is a weather bureaucracy, and someone stamps … Continue reading →

Posted in Thinking, Tradition, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

On Lenin’s Feet and the Taxi-Driving Buddha

Posted on October 5, 2011 by

If you visit Kyoto, you may stumble into a small home next door to a shrine and, as you’re looking for the shrine entrance, a woman may ask you for 500 yen and assure you that there is English being … Continue reading →

Posted in language, Shrines, Temples and Ruins, Thinking, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments