Rainy Day Fun – Good Books and Monjayaki

Today, one of my oldest friends in Japan, came up from Osaka to spend the day with me.  The weather has been chilly and damp, so Keiko and I decided to do two of my favorite rainy day activities – visiting a great book store and eating delicious food. We started out at the Yaesu [...]

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Fabulous at Forty – AFWJ Convention in Chiba

I am still recovering from an amazing weekend.  Imagine this!  Being in a room with nearly 140 women from every part of the globe, ages ranging from 20s to 90s with only one thing in common.  But that one thing is more than enough to make all of us to feel a tremendous sense of [...]

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Please Do It At Home – Romance and Manners in Japan

According to my friend Akemi, this poster is part of a popular campaign to promote good manners on the subways here in Tokyo.  At first I was a bit surprised and confused by this poster.  I couldn’t imagine what it was the passengers were supposed to be doing at home. In the poster, a young [...]

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Food is Love – Remembering Matt

When I first came to Japan, more than 30 years ago, I was astonished by not only how delicious the food was, but also by how much care is put into the meals served in Japanese homes.  I have come to believe that the amount of love Japanese women put into their cooking has as [...]

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The Ki to Flying in Dreams – 飛ぶ夢と気

This morning, I found myself  walking along a footpath in Urayasu with my husband and our two small boys.  In the dream I am helping our children learn how to fly.  It’s a very natural process for them, like learning how to walk.  I encourage then to focus on feeling the ki （気）in their bodies [...]

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Welcome Home – おかえりなさい！

Okaerinasai! Welcome back home! With those words, my dear friend and former art student Chapa welcomed me back home to Japan.  As I stepped off the bus, jet lagged and hungry she embraced me and reminded me of why I love Japan so much.  Good friends are a treasure that makes life so rich and [...]

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