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Not Cookie Cutters
These are not cookie cutters. Well, I guess they could be cookie cutters. But they’re not really. You can find them in all sorts of Japanese stores. They’re usually sold in sets of four, like this. So what they are, actually, are vegetable cutters. You use them to cut carrots or daikon radishes or, heck,…
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Monkeys on a Stick!
I’ve been wanting to write about this for awhile, and now I’m finally getting around to it. This is what I love about Japan. Monkeys on a stick. Before I went into the hospital to get my gall bladder out – um, ages ago (last spring?) – a good friend gave me this little thing…
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Skipping Town–Yonige （夜逃げ）
Japanese Word-of-the-Day: Yonige (夜逃げ)–skipping town; literally running away at night. I was really trying to sleep past three am last night, and I was almost there. That is until sometime around 2:55 when I started dreaming about explosions. Time to wake up. It turned out I wasn’t actually in a war zone. Instead, someone was…
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Cha Cha Maru
Dogs get you through things. They teach you about yourself. They’re your little buddies and a part of your family. That said, they’re not your “children”, as I hear so many people say. Your kids will invariably grow up and become their own independent-thinking human creatures. They’ll move away from you. But not…
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Three-Thirty AM Ramen
Here’s a twist on what to do when life gives you lemons. If you’re woken up at three am by a husband being noisy downstairs and you can’t go back to sleep, you go grab some ramen. There’s this super popular ramen shop one town over that is only open from 3:15 am until 5:30…
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Okuribi–Send Off Fire
August 16th is the last day of obon — a summer festival that honors the spirits of the dead. It’s the day everyone has to send back all those ancestors who have being hanging out at the family altar, feasting on fruit, sticky rice cakes, and sake’. Because, really, you don’t want them hoards of ghosties hanging…
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Summer Desserts
In Japan sweets are sublime. Let me give you an example. The other day I was picking up some sticky rice cakes for my mother-in-law and I came across this. It’s a gelatin dessert, but there’s a goldfish floating there. And little red and white bean “rocks”. Seaweed even! And there, minus one gelatin bite.…
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The Bear Spray Incident
The day started. It was a mellow, sad morning with many tearful goodbyes to my Clarion West classmates. Okay, I have to go home. I’m going to do this thing. I arrived at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport three hours before my Japan flight, paid 75 bucks for my overweight suitcase (still loads cheaper than had I…
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Three Expat Women. Three international love stories. One book giveaway.
Do you know what I love more than a good memoir? More that two good memoirs? Yep, THREE good memoirs! And there’s even a giveaway. Click below for details. a Rafflecopter giveaway I’ve already started reading Leza’s book and am enjoying it immensely. Years ago I heard Tracy read a bit from hers (it was…
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Japanese Picture Books
I was walking through the kid’s section of the bookstore the other day when this beauty caught my eye: How absolutely awesome, I thought. It’s a picture book about paradise, or Buddhist heaven. Hey, wait. If they have a book about gokuraku“-極楽, they surely must have a book about… And they…
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The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship
I am tickled pink to announce that I have won this year’s Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship. I would like to give a world of thanks to The Horror Writers Association for providing female horror writers with such a wonderful opportunity to invest in and hone their craft. And thanks and appreciation also to the HWA Scholarship Committee:…
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My Anti-New Year’s Noodles
On New Year’s Eve in Japan everyone (and I mean everyone) eats something called toshikoshi soba, year-crossing soba noodles. It’s a thing. And it’s delicious. If you ask around you’ll hear loads of reasons why you’re supposed to eat these specific noodles on New Year’s Eve. The main one, though, is that the soba represents…