About the Author
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the Internets a better place. Thanks for reading!
Monthly Archives: February 2010
JLPT Roundup, February 2010
February has been a busy month, with lots of distractions that have limited my ability to study, but more importantly I decided to shift gears big time in my study of the JLPT after getting some sagely advice from my … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT
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Speaking out against Domestic Violence
This is pretty off-topic from the usual blog-ness, but a while back on Twitter, someone had posted a link to this article in The Guardian, featuring the story of Patrick Stewart and his troubled youth under his abusive father. Yes, … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Dune, General, Religion
4 Comments
Who’s who in Buddhism, part 5: Jizo Bodhisattva
It’s hard to be in Japan for very long without noticing this cheerful figure in temples, roadside shrines and so on: This is Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Earth-Store Bodhisattva, also known as Jizō (地蔵). Jizo is a popular figure in East-Asian … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism
9 Comments
Practice listening to Japanese, part 3: podcasts redux
Lately, since I began my preparations for the N2/JLPT2 certification test coming later this year, I decided to really focus more on listening comprehension. Although I passed the listening section of the N4/JLPT3 test in 2009 with a reasonable score, … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT
2 Comments
Old School Cooking in Tokyo
I found an interesting article posted on the Asahi Shinbun about efforts by some restaurants in Tokyo, along the Sumida River, to revive old recipes from the days of the Edo Period. The dishes mentioned in the article, such as … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Japan
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Dune and the Absolute
From the book God-Emperor of Dune: In all of my universe I have seen no law of nature, unchanging and inexorable. This universe presents only changing relationships which are sometimes seen as laws by short-lived awareness. These fleshly sensoria which … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Dune
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Confucius and Priorities
Something lately I wanted to share was this passage from the Analects of Confucius, Book 3: [3:13] Wang Sunjia asked: “What do you think about the saying ‘It is better to sacrifice to the god of the stove than to … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Philosophy, Religion
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JLR turns 1 year old!
Until today, I completely overlooked the fact that the blog has turned one year old as of January 22nd! Long time readers may recall my frequent tendency to delete blogs after I get frustrated or overwhelmed, and the demise of … Continue reading
Posted in General
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Fake food artisans
I enjoyed reading this story about the fake food industry in Japan. Speaking from experience, when you visit any mall or shopping center you see elaborate displays like this one: The food, as you may or may not be aware, … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Japan
4 Comments
Nirvana Day 2010
Today, February 15th, marks the day in the Japanese Buddhist calendar of Nirvana Day or nehan-e (涅槃会):1 The picture above depicts the Buddha’s final passing, or parinirvana, in the Mahayana context as he is surrounded by disciples, bodhisattvas, demons, gods … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Nichiren, Tendai
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