Super Big Japan Style

I disappeared. I am still here, here being Japan. But I disappeared from the blogosphere. There were/are reasons, I suppose: literary lar...

Rice  is one of the world's most labor intensive foods.  I discovered this first hand recently when I took part in a traditional rice ha...

Late summer  in Kitakamakura (北鎌倉 ).  H ot, humid.   Engakuji (円覚寺) (est. 1282)  is huge.  Apparently it used to be even bigger with some 40...

There is a direct route from the train station to  the  ryokan  (inn),  Chigasaki-kan (茅ヶ崎館), less than 20 minutes on foot.  That is not th...

Chigasaki (茅ヶ崎) is the beach town I've been looking for in Japan.  It is said that Japanese surfing was born here.  And it does feel som...

A sultry haze filled in the gaps between the steep banks of the river.  Everything soft and indistinct.  The heat was too much for the rive...

The frogs arrive with the new rice.  In fact, I think they may be some kind of amphibious hitchhikers.  Farmers get their ...