It is the last day of summer break. The kids’ school here on Iki had a 3 week summer holiday, shortened by the school missed in April due to coronavirus measures. Although our break was shorted by a couple of weeks, we are lucky. Some schools only got 9 days. We are also lucky toContinue reading “Summer Break”
Category Archives: travel
75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki
The 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb was a couple of days ago. The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki 75 years ago today, on 9 August 1945 at 11:02. I was in Nagasaki a couple of weeks ago and stopped at the hypocenter monument pictured above. The black monolith points up where at 500Continue reading “75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki”
The Bridges of Nagasaki
In northwest Kyushu, on a peninsula of a peninsula of a peninsula, like a fractal made from prehistoric solidified lava, lies the vibrant city of Nagasaki. Nestled amongst rugged volcanic hills, Nagasaki is one of the most important ports in all of Japanese history. The narrow bay quickly gives way to steep mountains, carpeted withContinue reading “The Bridges of Nagasaki”
A successful move to Ikijima, the Lucky Island
In the last post I described moving to Japan during a pandemic. After all that drama we followed up with an inter-prefectural move within Japan under a State of Emergency! The drama never ends around here… Golden Week is around the beginning of May when a series of holidays fall in place almost almost oneContinue reading “A successful move to Ikijima, the Lucky Island”
2020NYinJapan Part 4: Iki
That narrow corridor of water between Japan and continental Asia, the confluence of three seas — East China, Yellow, and the Sea of Japan — is called the Korea Strait. It is about 200km wide, and is bisected by the long and narrow Tsushima Island. From Tsushima, on a clear day, it is said oneContinue reading “2020NYinJapan Part 4: Iki”
2020NYinJapan Part 3: Ise
In a time before time, the sibling deities Izanagi and Izanami (who were married, but that is a different tale) stood on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. They had a jewelled spear which they dipped into the ocean below. After pulling it out, the drops from the spear formed the islands we know today asContinue reading “2020NYinJapan Part 3: Ise”
2020NYinJapan Part 2: Kyoto
Kyoto was a short stop during this trip. We did all of our regular traditions when visiting home: met with family for our own New Year’s, went for hatsumōde at Yasaka Jinja, visited the family grave. One day I had a couple of hours alone time so I decided to take a little walking tourContinue reading “2020NYinJapan Part 2: Kyoto”
2020NYinJapan Part 1: Tokyo
We spent less than a day here, getting up early on Jan 1st — known as gantan (元旦) in Japanese. A friend who I had not seen in many years picked us up from the hotel, and we all went for hatsumōde together. My friend lives mostly in Dubai where his three kids go toContinue reading “2020NYinJapan Part 1: Tokyo”
2020 New Years in Japan recap
This year I celebrated New Year’s in Tokyo for the first time. We landed at Haneda on New Year’s Eve, stayed in the airport hotel, and over the next 10 days crossed about 2200km of the country. As I summed up on Twitter: 🏟️ 1 Olympic stadium 🚤 1 Hydrofoil ⛴️ 1 Ferry 🎂 2Continue reading “2020 New Years in Japan recap”
Cycles: 2019 Meditation retreat
For a third time I went on retreat to Birken, a Buddhist monastery in the Thai Forest tradition. I try to do retreats like this annually as a way to reset my meditation practice. Going up on Friday, we stayed three nights and enjoyed complete silence, 45m meditation sessions at least twice daily, and lotsContinue reading “Cycles: 2019 Meditation retreat”
