Our first summer spent on Iki in 2020 was a bit hectic. We had just arrived in May: new community, new house, new school, new life. We didn’t know the roads, weather, where the good…
Date Archives 2021
Women adventurers
In my previous post on adventure travel I listed a number of adventure writers that have inspired me over the years. You may have noticed that they were almost exclusively men. The reason is because…
On Adventuring
It was 1993, the beginning of the Clinton years. The Wall had come down and Yeltsin had gone up onto the tank. No longer impeded by a curtain of iron, there were now fifteen new…
Rural perspective — Review of “Inaka” on WiK
The Arashiyama bamboo grove is one of those must-go places when you visit. Located in the west of the city, at the foot of Mount Arashiyama, it is a major tourist area offering all the…
Marking 1 year on Iki
Today is our 1 Year Anniversary of moving to the remote island of Ikijima. (More on Why Iki here →) We have enjoyed clear blue water, white sand beaches, stunning sunrises, windy days, typhoons, unexpected…
Creating the image of peace — Kitamura Seibo
Just north of the hypocenter where the atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki is a commemorative park honouring victims of mass destruction. Walkways wend through trimmed lawns dotted with sculptures gifted from nations around the world…
Nakamura Tetsu
I wrote a review of the recently published English translation of Nakamura Tetsu’s book Providence Was with Us: How a Japanese Doctor Turned the Afghan Desert Green. You can read the review on BooksOnAsia.net here,…
Around Iki by video
Last weekend was the first time I left Ikijima for four months. But it isn’t like we have been spending the whole time huddled in our house against the snowpocalypse. The weather was really crappy,…
Yufuin: Driving across Kyushu
statue of an elephant by a sign for African Safari in Japanese
Raising kids in multiple languages
Multicultural parents face lots of social pressure regarding their kids language abilities. Here is how my thinking on child language acquisition has evolved over the years.