The weather is changing. I’m sure those of you that live in four-season climates can understand the feeling of wistfulness that affects a person in autumn. There is of course the spectacular display of color and surprisingly warm days that bring about pleasant sentiments. There’s also fall’s cool, hardy wind and the sound of grey-brown…
About Tokyo With a Baby
My husband opens his mouth in a goofy, wide grin and waggles his eyebrows and he coaxes my son’s right arm, then left into the carseat harness. Big globs of tears cling to the corners my little guy’s eyes, his face red and hot and sticky as he decides whether to laugh or cry. Resistance…
Tokyo Weeks 11 & 12: Sayonara, Tokyo!
That feeling– you know the one. It’s that feeling of being pages away from the ending of a great book. The literary term for the part in the story when this feeling kicks in is denouement. My high school English textbook explained that the term means untying, as in loose shoelaces. I never liked this…
Tokyo Week 10: In Which Autumn Continues to Impress & We Enjoy Shamisen and Wooden Blocks in Kagurazaka
I first came to Japan almost a decade ago for a 10-day college trip hosted by my favorite professor. In those 10 days, Dr. Johnson showed us so much of Kyoto that my head spun and still, we managed to squeeze in a trip to Nara and even an afternoon in Osaka before our plane…
Mount Takao: Views of Fuji and Some Autumn Magic On & Off the Beaten Path
My husband and I thrill to the unexpected. For us, it’s one of the main reasons why we stay abroad long enough to be open to unplanned adventures. We usually try to stay off the beaten path and keep our minds open wherever we go. Because of baby, however, we’re somewhat limited in how adventurous…
Tokyo Week 9: In Which We Visit Shinjuku Gyoen and Baby Discovers Grass
Our life in Tokyo has taken on the rhythm of habit and pattern. We’ve developed little routines living here, ways of going about our day that have become comfortable. But just as we’ve begun feeling familiar enough as to feel almost home we are roused by the idea that in just 20 days, our new…
Tokyo Weeks 7 & 8: Typhoons, Temples and Tourist Attractions
Baby won’t sleep without nursing or being walked in the wrap unless we sing the itsy-bitsy spider to him. With the rain pouring down outside, he listens as his daddy sings in a sweet register and his little eyes will flutter closed as his mommy dreams of the sun coming out again. Tomorrow is a…
Mount Fuji
Our neighbors downstairs moved out this week due to their apartment being invaded by at least one unlucky little refugee from the rain. The rat is dead, the holes underneath the house, apparently, cannot be plugged up completely, and so we are thankful we are on the second story and have the luxury of pity. …
Tokyo Weeks 5 & 6: In Which I Write About Last Week While Hiding From the Rain
I walked back from the sento (銭湯) the other night in a light mist, wet hair clamped up, feeling clean and content, damp air settling my skin, which was irritated and still red and warm and a bit tight from the hot, hot water. I thrill to this walk—it is my time alone and unencumbered….
Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto: In Which I Take Styx Way Too Seriously (Modernity, Identity, and Social Media)
When I slid the door open the other night and found my husband with my son draped across his lap, the only thing out of the ordinary was my husband singing along with a youtube video playing certain song by Styx. Very entertaining. “I’m surprised no one has covered this song!” he exclaimed. Oh, really?…
Atlas & Alphabet 