Monthly Archives: July 2017

Hawaii Travelogue: A Japan away from Japan [Ch.5: Food in Hawaii]

This article is a part of series of articles about my 2017 trip to Hawaii. Please see the table of contents that contains links to other chapters. Food in Hawaii In Hawaii, specifically Waikiki, you can find much of the usual fare: American (including popular chains such as Denny’s and McDonald’s), Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and… Read More »

Hawaii Travelogue: A Japan away from Japan [Ch.1: Why Hawaii? and First Impressions]

This article is a part of series of articles about my 2017 trip to Hawaii. Please see the table of contents that contains links to other chapters. Why Hawaii? After much discussion we settled on Hawaii not just because of the Japanese culture there, but also because it was significantly closer to us (in Portland,… Read More »

Japanese fiction translation: “Final Days of Summer” by “Masaki Hashiba” [Story 2 / Part 4]

This is my translation of the 4rd and final chapter of the second story “Starfollower” (星を辿る人) of the fantasy work “Final Days of Summer” (残夏)  by Masaki Hashiba (ハシバ柾). I’ve gotten permission from the author to translate it and put it on my blog. The original work was published online not in chapters, but as one onely`ong entry… Read More »

Easily misunderstood Japanese word: でぶしょう (debushou) is not about being fat

Recently, I was having a conversation with someone in Japanese and the word “でぶしょう” came up. In my mind I put together the word でぶ (debu), an insulating word for “fat”, and しょう (症), which can act as a suffix that means a sickness or condition, like in the word あがり症 (agarishou) which refers to… Read More »