So one more pandemic year has past. Never could I have imagined three years ago that we would still be in a pandemic with alcogel everywhere and people’s faces behind masks. I sometimes feel like society has changed for good and I am wondering if there ever will come a time when there is not …
New year in Japan is arguably the most important holiday of the year, and as such is filled with traditions. There is the traditional osetchi-ryōji, many different kinds of new year’s food served in stackable boxes. There is the traditional hatsumōde, the year’s first visit to a shrine or temple. Otoshidama, new year’s money, is …
Even though it has no age-old traditions in Japan, celebrating Christmas the Japanese way is a very big happening here. It is a festive season leading up to the traditional New Year’s celebrations, and from what I have gathered so far, the important parts of Christmas in Japan are decorations, gifts for loved ones, chicken …
Sometimes I find that words can be a distraction when writing. With the view of Mount Fuji still in my mind, and the weight of my son still on my lap, tonight was such a time.
Being lovers of nature as well as the old and new world, we are so fortunate in where we live. While a shorter walk takes us to the train station or the shopping center, a short bicycle ride takes us to the nearby beach and mountains. And a thirty minutes drive will let us reach …
In Japan so called 100 yen shops are very popular. They are stores that sell almost anything you need for your home and most items cost 100 yen. I guess they are the dollar stores of Japan. You can by paper, pens, cleaning and washing supplies, storage solutions and hobby materials. They have office supplies …
It starts with the name. Raizan, thunder mountain. I cannot imagine a more awe inspiring name for a mountain, and it is easy to imagine how people who gave the mountain its name felt that this is a mountain to fear and revere, a mountain of deity. Raizan is located a short drive from our …
After having been to Sweden, going by train and bus and airplane, my son was so enthusiastic about public transportation that we decided to go on a little train ride in Fukuoka. He loves his trains and on the local train to downtown Fukuoka he wanted to get out of the pram and proudly sat …
With no wife there with us, my son and I still managed to leave Sweden and get back to Japan safe and sound. He was sleeping a lot, so I was having a lot of time admiring the ceiling of the airplane. All those little LED lights in the bluely lit up roof that made …
The other day my son and I visited the bookstore at the nearby shoppingmall and a book on display, with a note saying recommended by staff, caught my attention. It was a book about a railroad level crossing, and without even looking inside I decided we would by it. Every time we take the bicycle …
In between the days of rain there have been sunny beautiful too warm summer days this past week. One place to escape the heat is the local shopping mall that is quite empty during the mornings and offer plenty of space for our son to run. He has already figured the place out, knows his …
Already a year has past since I in front of an open window enjoyed the rice frogs sining in the rice fields for the first time. And this year I have so come to love these fields – they feel like home. From the window I have been following them going from brown patches of dirt …