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Japan’s new foreign minister,
Japan’s new foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, is getting herself into trouble. She’s outspoken, fluent in English and not your average Japanese bureaucrat. She’s been called “feisty,” a “maverick” and she really is a breath of fresh air, even if she is offending people right and left by cancelling appointments with foreign dignitaries and making bold…
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The 13th Annual Bunkyo-ku
The 13th Annual Bunkyo-ku Aozora (Blue Sky) Garage Sale took up three streets and a schoolyard. At about 11, I dragged Tod from his slumber to see the market. He broke his fast with a serving of yakisoba (fried noodles). I went into the schoolyard and joined the little children playing with the creatures in…
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In the heart of
In the heart of our residential neighborhood, a hotel is disguised as an apartment building. We’ve walked by it several times and commented on the French restaurant in the first floor. It’s a bit unusual for an apartment building to house a restaurant, but Tokyo is full of surprises. Last night, we decided to eat…
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I should not have
I should not have answered the doorbell. I am not prepared to rebuff relgious zealots in Japanese. They were sweet those two young women with pamphlets. “We are Spiritual Volunteers,” they said in English as they handed me a pamphlet in Japanese. I should have turned and fled. My problem is that I am stupid…
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With windows thrown open
With windows thrown open to let in the spring breezes, I’m discovering that my neighborhood smells like food. This morning, tonari-sama is cooking sausage and eggs. The other evening, I smelled curry. My own kitchen is as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s, so these scents are tantalizing. Oddly enough, I never smell Japanese foods, only…
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Outside our front door
Outside our front door is a tiny triangle of garden. When we moved in in October, it wasn’t terribly impressive–lots of unruly woody branches with green leaves. However, it evolved into a flowering wonderland this spring. First apple blossoms, then brilliant azaleas. Now we have huge red roses. The buds of pink spray roses are…
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Tsuyu, the rainy season,
Tsuyu, the rainy season, began in Okinawa two days ago. From the state of the weather in Tokyo, I think it’s begun here as well. Even though it isn’t really due here for another few weeks, the rain clouds rolled in and we suffered a classic tsuyu rain yesterday–slow, misty drizzle all day. This is…
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My short note to
My short note to the DigitalEve Japan mailing list asking about job placement firms elicited 10 responses, including a personal referral to a recruiter, an appointment with another, a request for my resume, and scads of information about where to look for job leads online and offline. With all this support and goodwill, maybe job…
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In theory this should
In theory this should be a breeze. Install FreeBSD Unix on an old computer, add a web server, a database and some other bells and whistles to get it running for DigitalEve Japan. We’ve done this before. In practice it’s turning out to be a major hassle. Not even counting that it took two days…
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I really, truly hate
I really, truly hate job hunting. After two years of freelancing, I’ve generated a decent body of work but I haven’t added much to the family coffers. On top of fiscal irresponsibility, my focus is beginning to drift; I spend days writing nothing at all. I think it’s time to return to the 9-5 world…
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