Monthly Archives: October 2011

Happy Halloween 2011!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Halloween one of the funnest holidays of the year, and we’ve been busy at our home. This is a Halloween-themed bento my wife made: A closeup of the “Jack-o-lantern” made with nori seaweed: A couple weeks ago … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, Family, Literature, Zelazny | 4 Comments

Debunking Buddhist “Experts”

While cleaning out my email, I found this old article a friend had sent me years ago, and I had saved it for a day like this. This is a great article about what makes one an expert and what … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Religion | 2 Comments

A Brief History of Korean Buddhism

Hi all, This is another reference post. Recently, I was curious about Korean Buddhism, and read this article, which provided a nice, concise overview. But I noticed that this, and other sources on Korean Buddhism were somewhat light on details, … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Religion | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Yay

Latest video by Girls’ Generation and their new album, “The Boys”: Even if you’re not a KPop or Girls’ Generation fan in general, the video is pretty amazing visually. I like the intro quite a bit with the falling blossoms, … Continue reading

Posted in Korea, Music | Tagged | 5 Comments

Flooding in Ireland, Thailand

While at work this morning, I was chatting with co-workers in Ireland online who mentioned flooding in Dublin. Ireland gets a lot of rain in general, but I was quite surprised when someone showed me this video: That’s the Dundrum … Continue reading

Posted in Ireland | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Why Pronunciation Matters in Learning a Foreign Language

I found this video on Youtube a few weeks ago, while trying to fix my own pronunciation of Japanese. My wife has repeatedly told me that if I pronounced Japanese better, I could speak Japanese well. I understand what she’s … Continue reading

Posted in Japanese, Korean, Language, Vietnamese | 4 Comments

Finding That Precious Middle Way

This is kind of an impromptu post. I spent the night watching videos on Youtube. Of course, you can’t just watch one video on Youtube, you start seeing related videos, links etc. So, by the end of the night, I … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Jodo Shu, Religion | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Be A Real Man

I found this video online from a contact on Twitter and I really liked it a lot. Please take 10 minutes to watch: It’s a shame women are frequently mistreated and relegated to second-class status in our society. When I … Continue reading

Posted in Family, General | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Fukushima and Cesium Fallout

(Cesium metal, called seshiumu セシウム in Japanese. This piece of cesium is encased in mercury, suigin 水銀, inside of glass. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia) Someone mentioned this article on the Japan Times, and I wanted to post it here. This … Continue reading

Posted in Japan, Science, Travel | 2 Comments

Reflections of an Old Japanophile

I had an interesting experience a while back at the local Japanese bookstore, Kinokuniya, here in Seattle. I was with wife and daughter, buying book, and I decided to check out the English-language manga section. I usually try to read … Continue reading

Posted in Japan | 6 Comments