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!
Category Archives: Literature
Teaching Japanese Poetry to Kids
My daughter is now five years old and she attends a couple different preschools. One is American while the other is Japanese. Also, she attends a little “after school” Japanese class where she learns things like reading, culture and so … Continue reading
Good Advice for Study
After finishing the book on Han Feizi, I started reading the book written by the famous Confucian scholar Xunzi (荀子, 312–230 BC), particularly the Burton Watson translation. Xunzi is pronounced like “shoon-tsih” by the way.1 Like all Confucian scholars, he … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Japanese, Korean, Language, Literature
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Han Feizi: Total Bastard
Lately, besides my usual projects (blog, plus Korean studies), I’ve been reading a famous Chinese book called the Han Feizi (Burton Watson’s excellent translation). Han Feizi (韓非子, 280–233 BC) was the foremost thinker in the Legalism school of Chinese thought … Continue reading
Posted in China, Confucius, Literature, Philosophy, Politics
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No Really, This Too Shall Pass
(Just dust in the wind, dude) A few months back, I had a powerful feeling of nostalgia. Before our daughter was born my wife and liked to play computer games: Halo, Diablo 2, Age of Empires (my wife always play … Continue reading
Long Gone: The Ancient Egyptians
When I was in high-school, I remember spending a lot of time at home, reading about ancient civilizations. I would listen to my Seattle grunge music1 and read long books from the school library about the Sumerians, the Egyptians, Babylonians, … Continue reading
Posted in Dune, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, Seattle, Zelazny
Tagged "King Tut", Egypt
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Akira: 30 years later
Recently I was reading this interesting article by the Japan Times about the famous Japanese manga, Akira, and it’s amazing how much time has passed since it was first published. The article makes a very good point: There’s no denying … Continue reading
Ikkyu-san, the Clever Little Monk
One of the most famous and lovable Buddhist monks in Japan is Ikkyū, affectionately called ikkyū-san (一休さん) in popular culture. Ikkyu-san is a clever, and mischievous young Buddhist monk (kozō 小僧) who often outsmarts adults, and helps his friends. There … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Family, Japan, Literature, Zen
4 Comments
“Space Brothers” coming to the big screen!
I was very excited to hear from my wife a while back that one of my favorite Japanese manga, 宇宙兄弟 (uchū kyōdai) or “Space Brothers” is coming to the big screen in Japan. When I was first looking for Japanese … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Japan, Japanese, JLPT, Language, Literature, Science
5 Comments
Is There More Than This?
Lately, I’ve been thinking about a quote from Roger Zelazny’s Isle of the Dead:1 Even if they had been real gods, what did it matter? What was it to me? Here I was still, right where I was born a … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Confucius, Literature, Religion, Shinto, Zelazny
3 Comments
Hats for Jizo: A Japanese Buddhist Tale
Note: One day last month, my wife asked me to help translate a Japanese children’s book into English for a presentation at my daughter’s pre-school. It is a famous old tale (mukashi-banashi 昔話) in Japan. This is my completed translation, … Continue reading
