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Gone, gone, gone
At about 12:30 this afternoon, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: 大山地区。建物火災。平塚５５１。 (Oyama area house fire. Hiratsuka 551.) 551 is the old house next to our kominka – the one with the big gate. Oh! But the announcement was wrong. It wasn’t 551. It was 555. Our kominka, “Go-Go-Go” is gone, gone gone. To be…
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Fukushima, ten years on
Today is the 10th anniversary of the Tohoku Triple Disaster: earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. I wrote about my experiences at the time and you can look back though those posts (start here) if you want to know my thoughts in that moment. Here are my thoughts in this moment with a decade more experience:…
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Scat, Wild Boar
Never before see in our yard! Boar poop! The shiny circle in the center of the photo is a ten yen coin (about the size of a US quarter) for reference. What a big dump.
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Transformations with Jayne
You know how hearing your own voice recorded is just so strange? Listening to my interview on Transformations with Jayne is like listening to my sister and niece. We have the same voice! Which makes hearing that voice both weird and easier. Jayne and I talked about rural Japan life, my old podcast project, yoga…
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Temporarily Closed
I am feeling unsettled. I have been getting lax with precautions and it’s time to tighten back down. On Christmas day, Tod & I drove north to suburbia and enjoyed lunch in a shopping mall. We wanted a change of scenery and to mark the holiday, but in the middle of a rising wave of…
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Make Music Day 2020
Last year on the summer solstice, The Hill Sisters played some shows as part of Make Music Upper Perk. This year, we are separated by travel restrictions. But I decided I needed to perform anyway – the HILL SISTER Plays Alone – and set up a one woman show for cats and passersby. Maura grabbed…
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Solitary Hanami Hike
We took advantage of a beautiful day to go on a hike where nobody else was likely to be – up the typhoon damaged back train to Iyogatake’s cherry blossom area. Getting up the mountain was an interesting puzzle of over, under, and around the fallen trees. Our destination had been damaged by landslides, but…
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Locking down at home til April 5th
I feel like I’ve been an irresponsible citizen by ignoring the COVID-19 drama while hosting a foreign visitor and then taking a 300 km road trip to fulfill a promise to help a friend. Being out in a city filled with people, away from our sparsely populated rural paradise, I felt pretty vulnerable. Even though…
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Morning fog
(Mar 3, 6:38 am) (Feb 15, 6:37 am)
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Neko-bouzu
At Wara Coffee, I saw a sweet cat version of the Japanese weather charm, teru-teru bouzu. So I sketched it. Naomi gave me good marks: 大変よくできました.
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