nature

the singing rice fields

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 […]

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everyday beauty

Tonight my son fell asleep lying on my chest; I cannot imagine anything more beautiful. His whole existence is beautiful – the pure innocence of a child. The trust he puts in us without even thinking about it – I was lying in bed thinking of what I possibly could have done to deserve it, to

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a song to the mountains

I cannot get enough of the mountains here in Japan. Every day I feel drawn to them, to see them, to feel them, to walk among them. It is almost like they talk to me through the air I breath, the cold winds that sweep around my face, the dense forests. The air at home when

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stairs

Being a beautiful day, my son and I decided we should go exploring together. Just as I was about to prepare our picnic lunch, our son’s grandmother called and said she had prepared some lunch for us today; wow! So it was with homemade onigiri bento that we set off on our bicycle heading for

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adventsfika

I could not resist to follow up the last post with a story of how we have enjoyed our lussebullar, saffron bread. The second of Advent we climbed the mountain at the foot of which we live. Ever since we moved here I have been looking up at the mountain, wanting to stand on its

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finally fall

Finally the most beautiful time of the year is here. Before our son was born, I would take an early morning train and go to the mountains, searching for the autumn colors in nature, walking the trails with my camera and tripod and thermos with hot coffee. I would take an early morning train and

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a day to grow

Sometimes our son seems to grow more in one day than in a whole month. My wife and I were talking the other day about when we should stop call him baby; of course he is still our little baby (and I guess he will continue to be as long as we live), but we

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art and poetry

Since becoming a father I have not had the time to work so much on my own art and poetry. Well that was a bit of an understatement – I have been too busy nursing our son, taking care of the house, moving from Tokyo, trying to find some daily time to study Japanese, that

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now mountain

From our house, the first thing we see in the morning when we open the curtains, and the last ting we see at night while the sun is setting behind the big pine trees growing on a hill next to our house, is Imayama. Imayama, 今山 is a small small mountain close to the sea

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the remaining rice fields

It is Saturday evening and I am sitting on the floor just behind a mosquito net in front of an open veranda door. My wife and son are sleeping and I have just finished the dishes, having cleaned the bathroom after a long bath. It is dark ouside, although I can discern a faint glow

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the snake in paradise

All week I have been searching for a few moments to write a few lines, and I have not until now found that chance. In reality I would have liked to have a lot of time to write story after story – it has been that kind of a week – but for now a

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