For as long as I have lived here, Japan has always evoked this image as a “safe” country. “Safe” in the immediate physical harm sense, I could go on ad nauseam about the “unsafe” nature of the overall business/workplace culture to the human psyche. But in terms of my physical safety, I probably haven’t lived […]
Getting back to fundamentals here in my micro-man cave. With the nation outside my window completely incapable of handling this pandemic, I’ve taken refuge in rediscovering the early days of personal home computing. Specifically the BBC Micro, and other similar boards from the early to mid eighties. This was slightly before my entry into personal […]
A nice little project came my way via the interwebs, Pinterest actually, one of the few social networks I sometimes dive into. It’s called a book nook, and it involves crafting a bookend or book spacer into a scene. They are often themed based on the books surrounding it. (i.e. Daigon Alley from Harry Potter […]
I’ve attempted this many times before. But in the days leading up to the pandemic I re-triggered my news addiction, which in recent weeks sped wildly out of control. Every twenty minutes I was checking infection counts, deaths rates, and the paralyzed response of the Japanese government. As it stands now, here in Sapporo, it’s […]
Well, as I sit here, I fear the worst. Japan has done next to nothing to address the Corona situation. Here in Sapporo they closed schools for about 2 weeks at the start of March… and that’s about it. Almost a laughable (little) amount of testing has occurred, just check the stats. The government, both […]
Well, it descends. All around. Nowhere to hide. No country to escape to. I’ve never liked crowds, which has always made Japan a tough sell for me. Now is the time to cuddle up with a few good books, build a model, make some artwork, study for a Linux exam that may or may not […]
We decided to head three hours north to escape this year’s mild Sapporo winter and try out some ice fishing on Lake Shumarinai. This was unknown territory for everyone in our group, so we had the facilities at the lake set us up with a rental tent, simple rods, and bait. Our main objective would […]
A big part of my day is my morning and late afternoon commute. This year both of the schools I am posted at are within 30 minutes walking time from my apartment. My pledge has been to refuse to take public transport and walk each day, regardless of the weather. Until recently that hasn’t been […]
Sapporo has had, until just recently, a rather marked decrease in snowfall from seasons past. In order to get our snowshoeing habit fulfilled, we had to take a trip south to Jozankei, the hot spring resort that falls within Sapporo’s city limits, but close enough to the mountains to get significantly more snow than downtown. […]
It’s that time of the year. ‘Twas the night before American Thanksgiving as I write this, not a salaryman was stirring, not even Takashi-san who just put in a 15 hour day for zero overtime pay. Especially not that guy. But Thanksgiving 2019 comes at a particularly well deserved time in old Nippon, as the […]