Essays, notes,
and thinking.

what 275 years looks like

a 275-year-old paint company in kyoto called themselves custodians, not owners. i didn't fully understand what that meant until i watched a second-year apprentice learn by standing next to someone.

the bear dance and what it cost

most visitors to Japan never learn that Japan has an indigenous people. i didn't either, until i sat front row at Upopoy and watched a culture refuse to disappear.

invisible losses

mymizu, meiji shrine, and a cooking class in tsukiji walked into the same question from three different directions.

two japans in one day

what a bullet train, a consulting firm, and a group of middle schoolers taught me about a country that contains multitudes

you can't translate your way into a culture

What a Japanese student said at a high school exchange that I haven't stopped thinking about.

Hello World