“Just relax!” You’ve probably heard this phrase used before, often in situations when someone is stressed out or panicking due to stress or other factors. Or they may be overreacting about something that is in reality not a big deal. Just taking a few breaths can make a huge difference in our mood and outlook,… Read More »
A few months ago I published Bitter Honey, a weird and surreal piece of Japanese literature about a magical goldfish who sometimes appears in the form of a teenage girl. (Note: the story is published in both English and parallel English /Japanese for Japanese learners.) As it was a fun story to translate I thought… Read More »
In this episode of my podcast for learning basic Japanese grammar, I go over the potential form and a few related conjugations. I also go over a casual way of asking “Really?”
I visited the Portland Japanese Garden in April 2024 for the first time in quite awhile, where I was treated to its many beautiful views, further enhanced due to the light drizzle that made the colors that much brighter. I took a handful of pictures so I thought I would share some of them here… Read More »
On a recent trip to Japan I stopped by Kyoto, where there happened to be a calligraphy exhibit opened in the Shimadai Gallery, a relatively small museum located walking distance from Karasuma Oike Station. Having been into calligraphy (書道) pretty heavy as a hobby the last few months, I was really blown away by the… Read More »
I’m happy to announce a new podcast about all things Japanese, “Japanesque”.
In March of 2024 I went on a trip to Japan with my family for around a week. We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Jinbocho, and Akihabara (yeah, it was a busy trip!). I’ve detailed a previous trip to Japan on this blog fairly extensively here, and for this recent trip I am not planning… Read More »
I’m proud to announce the release of one my longest translations yet, a surreal fiction piece about a magical goldfish.
When studying a foreign language, it’s nice to learn a little bit about a lot of words. But at the same time, it’s also nice to get deep and learn the various nuances of certain words, especially those that are used frequently. In this post I want to do a deep dive on the word… Read More »
I decided to write up the main reasons I continue to train in the martial art of Ki Aikido extensively for several years, and plan to continue to do so.