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Up and Down in Tohoku
Sunrise view from the cliffside cabin in Ofunato where we stayed. I spent the past week in Iwate-ken touring schools and doing performances with Guy Totaro, the Smile Ambassador for the Tyler Foundation. We visited 11 schools in 5 days, seeing about 700 kids for play, hoop workshops, and more. It was a very satisfying…
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Potential Catastrophes
Frequency of quakes around Tokyo, before and after the Tohoku quake. Data from Todai report. Last week, the University of Tokyo Earthquake Research Institute published a new report on “The Big One” that is overdue to hit Tokyo. After studying the frequency of quakes in the Kanto region since 3/11, they say there is a 70%…
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Mystery Weasel = Masked Civet
My neighborhood wildlife spottings started in December 2002 and it has always been a mystery to me what this long tailed grey critter was. Tanuki? Badger? I called it the Mystery Weasel in my first post and wrote about another sighting of the same animal on July 2006. After seeing four of them together two…
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Good Luck in the New Year
Yesterday I went to Yoyogi Park to work on a new comic hooping act but got distracted as I entered the gates, Healthy Matsuda, one of Tokyo’s licensed buskers (Heaven Artists, dont’ get me started) was setting up do a comic mime performance. I grabbed a hot tea from the vending machine nearby and plonked myself in…
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Totality
Phases of the eclipse, captured by Tod. Last night was the first time I’ve experienced a full lunar eclipse. It was beautiful. We rushed out of the house at 21:45 to catch the first bite taken from the moon. Japanese word for lunar eclipse is gesshoku, 月食, which is literally moon eating. What a meal. With a…
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Hiroshima
We’ve just returned from a three night trip to Hiroshima-ken. Starting in one of my favorite towns in Japan, Onomichi, we walked hundreds of stairs, took in the sunset view from the hilltop, said hello to the ominous monkeys, noted the economic upturn of the shopping arcades, ate pizza, Onomichi ramen, and Thai food. On…
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Tottori Dunes
Tottori Dunes is the only desert environment in Japan. It’s a funny place, a large expanse of sandy hills with the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. It’s a fifteen minute drive from downtown Tottori. This was not how I expected a desert to be. I imagined that desert had to be…
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A Dam Walk
After a couple of days of migraine, I needed a chance to breathe fresh air, so Tod & I took the train to Okutama on Sunday. We asked at the sightseeing office about local highlights and they suggested we head a little way out of town to the Ogouchi Dam. I think there may be some spectacular…
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Jumping Grandma
The Frisk campaign launched on 9/1 and a friend spotted me on the train that very day. The next day, I found myself on the Yamanote line with Heather….and there I was, leaping for Frisk. My tattoo has been Photoshopped out and I’m wearing a white wig and some daggy clothes, so it looks nothing…
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Skipping Past Middle Age
The new haircolor, but all the old wrinkles. Yesterday I experienced a difficult blow to my self-image and ego. I was at a photo shoot for what will be a national ad campaign in Japan. I was thrilled to get the gig; it was my first official, not-for-a-friend modeling job. I was asked to bring…
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