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: December 2011
Year 2011 wrap-up
New Year’s Eve didn’t go as planned, but it was interesting too. Originally we planned on taking my daughter and I to a local temple to take part in the bell-ringing service, or joya no kane, but I had to … Continue reading
The Ladies Man, a retrospective
Back in the old blog, The Level 8 Buddhist, I used to have a running gag called the “Ladies Man”. A co-worker who was very good with photography would often take photos of me in embarrassing situations, and I would … Continue reading
Posted in General, Photography
2 Comments
Happy New Year 2012!
My daughter made this calendar in school, similar to this one. This is an example of kagami-mochi which I talked about in this old post. As Wikipedia explains, Kagami-mochi are broken apart after Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year, January 1st), and … Continue reading
Japanese Grammar, some meta-rules
A while back, I had a small epiphany about Japanese language. I had been studying for the JLPT N2, and focusing on grammar. Like all languages, Japanese has many rules for grammar. Until then, I had been studying each grammar … Continue reading
Sleepy
This is me after flying 10 hours from Seattle to Japan, while riding the Narita Express for another 2 hours. I drank Red Bull, Coffee and Coke but it didn’t help. I was just too tired by then. I took … Continue reading
Posted in Japan, Travel
2 Comments
Radio Taiso
One of those time-honored traditions you see in Japanese television is a small TV show on NHK,1 the national TV station, called rajio taisō (ラジオ体操). The word taisō means exercise or calisthenics, and that’s basically what it is. Aired in … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Japan
2 Comments
Busy, busy, busy
The twelfth month of the traditional Japanese calendar (now December), known as shiwasu (師走) which means something like ‘priests running’. As New Year’s approaches, both Shinto priests (kannushi 神主) and Buddhists priests (obōsan お坊さん) are very busy preparing for the … Continue reading
Posted in General, Japan, Travel
6 Comments
Merry Christmas!
My daughter made this calendar at school, featuring Santa Claus. And as everyone knows, Santa Claus is Buddhist (more proof here). Merry Christmas, Everyone! P.S. On the side is written daisuki (だいすき) meaning “to like”. In other words, she likes … Continue reading
Returning ancient books to Korea
Recently, I read this interesting article by the Yonhap News Agency in Korea about series of ancient books that finally were returned to Korea by Japan. During the annexation of Korea by the Empire of Japan, the books became the … Continue reading
Meiji Shrine and Shinto
Recently, I found an old pamphlet (I love collecting them) from Meiji Shrine (or meiji jingū 明治神宮) in Japan. I think we received it when my daughter got a care package from her grandparents for Shichigosan.1 It’s a nice simple … Continue reading
