Ukemi: Aikido and the art of rolling with the punches
A discussion about “ukemi” (受け身), a core part of aikido and one of the things I really enjoy about this traditional Japanese martial art.
Category Archives: culture
Japanese novel review: “The Woman in the Purple Skirt” (“むらさきのスカートの女”) by Natsuko Imamura (今村夏子)
The other day I stopped by the Kinokuniya bookstore in Beaverton, Oregon, and stood before the bookshelf of hardcover Japanese fiction as I tried to figure out what to read next. I ended up choosing “The Woman in the Purple Skirt” (むらさきのスカートの女) by “Natsuko Imamura” for two reasons: it had won the prestigious Akutagawa prize… Read More »
Interesting Japanese loanword “マウンティング” (mauntingu, a.k.a. “mounting”)
Anyone who studies Japanese for even a short time knows there is a huge number of loanwords, and there seems to be more being coined every day. While they come from a bunch of world languages, yappari many are from English. This is both a blessing and a curse. If the word sounds like its… Read More »
Classical Japanese poetry translation: “The Forgotten Garden” (廃園) by Yoshinobu Morikawa (森川義信)
Despite the many prose translations I’ve done, I’ve never attempted to translate an entire poem from Japanese to English before. That’s partially because I generally don’t read poetry that often (in either Japanese or English), and hence am even less comfortable trying to translate it. Another reason is that generally I’m pretty picky about what… Read More »
Japanese News Site Review: Unseen Japan
I’ve written a review about “Unseen Japan”, a site that targets unique and interesting stuff about Japan that you aren’t likely to have seen elsewhere.
Oregon Ki Society: Learning mindfulness, self-control, and Aikido in and around Portland
In this article I give a detailed overview of Oregon Ki Society, an organization dedicated to spreading the teachings of Koichi Tohei that include Ki-Aikido and Ki principles. While Ki-Aikido is a martial art, the principles learned at OKS can be applied in many areas of your daily life, promoting things like mindfulness and self-control.
Japanese Novel review: “Nimrod” (ニムロッド) by Takahiro Ueda (上田 岳弘）
My reasons for purchasing Takahiro Ueda’s novel “Nimrod” are pretty typical: I liked the cover, liked the title, plus I liked the vague but significant-sounding marketing description on the obi (paper band used for marketing). Also, the book was relatively short, and (last but not least) the book was a winner of the Akutagawa prize,… Read More »
Fairy tale about a magic organ: Mimei Ogawa’s “The Life of a Musical Instrument”
I’ve translated and published the full text of the Japanese fairy tale “The Life of a Musical Instrument” (楽器の生命) by Mimei Ogawa (小川未明)
Juza Unno SF story published on history website
I’m very happy to report that my English translation of the story “Mysterious Spacial Rift” from classic SF writer Juza Unno (海野十三) was recently published on Historyradio.org, a cool site that has a radio station and blog covering a variety of historically relevant writers. You can read the full text of “Mysterious Spacial Rift” here.… Read More »
Dystopian SF Novel review: “Cash Crash Jubilee” by Eli K.P.William
I reviewed “Cash Crash Jubilee”, a dystopian SF novel I found terribly entertaining that’s set in an all-too-realistic Japan.