Strangely, I feel more prepared for self-isolation than I ever have in my life, and I realized this weekend that my year of quiet in rural Japan taught me a lot about how to manage limited social contact and a uniquely singular life. I figured there’s no time like a pandemic to share a few things that kept me sane.
Read MoreI didn’t expect it would take me so long to write again. And not just about Japan, but about anything. The margins of my sketchbook at work are filled little thoughts, and the Notes app on my phone is a graveyard of ideas, and yet this blog has sat dormant since before I left Kyushu.
Read MoreNow that it’s well into autumn here, it seems like as good a time as any to get around to a few places I visited this summer. Right on schedule, I’m always a season behind.
Read MoreI am by no means religious, but there are often moments here that feel like something in-between mystery and spirituality. Perhaps I just watched too many Studio Ghibli films as a kid.
Read MoreTwelve hours later, I was packed up and on a train headed toward a town called Ebino. I knew two things about Ebino: first, that the town hosts a cow-jumping festival every year (yes, you read that right); and second, that my company described it as a nice place, albeit being in the middle of nowhere.
Read MoreI, am a hoe for podcasts. Podcasts are peak multitasking nerdom to me.
Read MoreAs it so happens, he graduated from one of the schools I now teach at, many years ago. I complimented him on his English, and his face lit up. Excitedly, he went on to explain that he never had formal training in English conversation while in school.
Read MoreAn interesting thing I have noticed ("interesting" is the Midwestern term for funny, strange, or, in this case, surprising) during my first month abroad is that many people seem to assume that because I am enjoying myself, this transition - to a completely new job, country, language, life - is a walk in the park. We view each other's lives through the scope of social media posts and Instagram stories, so most of what we glean is surface level. It's easy to scroll past and make those assumptions.
Read MoreRead MoreI always find the form that goodbyes take to be particularly interesting. Something I have noticed about being friends with photographers is they will often want to leave you with a portrait. This kind of time keeping is a quiet but powerful reminder that you exist, you hold a place in someone's life, you took up the space that was made for you.
It's spring in Japan and that usually means one thing: cherry blossoms.
Read MoreSometimes you have to feel like a fucking idiot to get where you need to go.
Read MoreThe road here can be distilled down to this: I applied to teach English as an ALT on a whim, and said I would see it through as far as it went. Seeing as this is as far as it went, I am seeing it through. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.
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