Something I’ve discovered about myself over the years is that I rely on being busy to get me writing. It’s a lot easier to write for an hour when I have a busy, but predictable, day than when I have nothing else to do. For the last year or so, I’ve been quite busy,...
I often get a lot of questions about what I do in Japan by people that I talk with online. Many of them assume that I’m going to idol concerts or finding anime-related events and things to regularly visit. Others think that Japan is mostly a historical place with lots of temples and castles....
For those who don’t know, HCP stands for hereditary corproporphyria, and mine is still raging. I wrote about it in the October 11th blog post, so if you want to know what it is, please check out that post. Today I want to talk more about the emotional and dietary side of it because...
With our empty buckets, our ready shovels, we could choose to scoop the moist sand, construct a castle, hollow a moat, perhaps, given time, raise battlements. A retinue of crabs could stand guard, protect us from the angry surf, until they are swept away or bribed by promises of mild summer. Our policies, benevolent...
In my previous blog post about forging friendships, I briefly touched upon the topic of expat friendships and how they can be difficult to make given the unstable, or temporary, nature of expats’ living situations. This came up because I have had the experience of getting close to someone only to have them leave...
Doing the podcast is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work. It feels like a part-time job and once a month becomes a full-time job. We are honest and open about the fact that we record our episodes a bit early. When it is time to record, transcribe, and...
People have often asked me about my experience socializing in Japan. More specifically, about whether I have a lot of friends and feel comfortable here. On the comfort part, the answer is a definitive yes. I truly enjoy a lot of the conveniences and such that come with living here. On the friendship part,...
Recently I have been thinking about passing privilege. A lot of people assume that I can pass for white, which I have never been able to do, nor have I wanted to. I have had people tell me that I am “not really black” or not know what I mixed with or assume I...