Zugai means skull

I looked at my last post from 4 years ago and just smiled to myself.

I finally finished Kanji in Context and learned all of the 常用漢字 (Jouyou-kanji). That only took me like 11 years or something? Wow, terribly inefficient. Better late than never!

I think it's time to apply that knowledge in more practical ways like reading. 

I rarely read any manga but 岳 (Gaku) is interesting to me. I bought 5 volumes when I left Japan in 2013 and just finished the first a few weeks back. The stories of the Japanese Alps and the mountain rescue team are quite fun. There is also a lot of death and despair. Sometimes I feel like I don't know Japanese when I read the colloquial conversations in the manga.

I'm excited to dig into Japanese literature more and read in Japanese. 

Are blogs still a thing these days?

Connecting my mind to the lines

How many times have I failed to finish Kanji in Context? What point would it be to finish it?

Regardless of whether it is worthwhile or not, I have been fighting an going battle with this lovely book and its vocabulary for the better part of 7 years perhaps. I start, I stop. I give up and begin anew. It's one of those lasting goals that just never pans out. Life always gets in the way or my laziness.

I miss the spring in Japan. It makes me sad that I can't hop in my Honda Fit and careen through the narrow mountain roads to spots that feel mystical and beautifully forlorn. There are so many places I would go if I could. It's been two years since I left and it gets easier with time but I will forever contemplate my situation if I had stayed this past two years. Wherever that would take me is not where I am now however.

But I have to connect some way. The only way I know how. I'll pick up this book again. I'll drill the vocab. I'll read the sentences. I'll write the compounds. It brings some strange solace and peace. Live through these words I say. I'll find may way back down those mountain roads, along the rice paddies, the fortress of sugi, and the flowing streams.

Only I really care.

November 17th, 2014

I wish I would have had more time to take pictures of the churches but my time was cut short in Macau. Two days later I had to leave Macau and I haven't been back since. Apparently, I could maybe go back but it isn't worth it to test the ban on entering...

Crab Walls

 It's been a bit cool and rainy these days. By chance I came upon these scans from my Olympus Pen. Well, I should say I found the camera and then discovered this folder sitting in plain sight on my computer.



I should really take it out for a spin and use it more. I have some very subtle but interesting images from it.

I also need to post once a week but my soul is a bit dead. No rhyme or reason.

Someday I'll Return to the Trails of Fushimi

林の中を吹きぬけてくる風は冷たくて気持ちがいい。

The blast of cool air from the forest depths feels great.