Scriblets

W e all have memories of special places. For one it’s a particular spot in the old hometown, and for another it may be the jungles of B...

T okyo is a vast city incorporating an ever-changing mix of districts and neighborhoods, places differing in style and color and constantl...

O nce more thoughts today have drifted east, curling backward through maze-like tracks of memory to faces and experiences of almost thirty y...

F riday was a town day, beach and surf fading in my rearview mirror not long after ten o’clock, car’s nose pointed west toward the Toyota de...

L ast night I finished a book by a writer who could be called, or classified ‘foreigner in Japan.’ The book was Tokyo Central and the write...

W hen you live in a city of 13 million people, and when half that number ride the train and subways each and every day, strange sights becom...

A common sight in Japan is the coffee shop. Unlike the shared and almost predictable commonality of coffee shops in many American cities, t...

D espite great strides made over the past six months toward acclimating to a different, and in part less familiar culture, there are things ...

F orgot where I was today, and for a moment was on my way to a coffee shop no longer within reach. A month ago it had been my habit for a lo...

16 Days… About two years before arriving in Japan with the intention of staying, I came with the thought of staying for only a short time,...

T aking another turn away from talk about pens, ink and paper today. This is a big party season in Japan, though not particularly related to...