I’m sitting here, as I just finished Face timing with my family back home, thinking about a question that my almost four year old cousin had asked asked me: “Why do you live so far away?” The holidays have quickly arrived and this is the first Christmas that I have missed in my whole life.…
Temari balls are a folk art form that originated in China and was introduced to Japan around the 7th century A.D. “Temari” means “hand ball” in Japanese. Embroidered balls may be used in hand games. Temari are highly valued and cherished gifts, symbolizing deep friendship and loyalty. Also, the brilliant colors and threads used are…
Hario Seto, one of Japan’s three stormiest currents, is famous for its whirlpools created by the large volumes of water moving between the Seto Island Sea and the Pacific Ocean between high and low tide, combined with the unique underwater geography of the narrow strait. The rate of whirlpools appearing increases particularly at springtime due…
I cannot believe that it is already December!! I must say that time has been going by fairly quickly. My husband and I have officially been living in Sasebo, Japan for six months now! And what’s a better way to ring in December and the upcoming holidays than by hosting a holiday homestay for Japanese students!??! So…
KOTAIJI TEMPLE Kameyama Shachu’s Kondo Chojiro is buried, along with Kosene Eishiro, a member of the Kaientai, in the Kosone family grave at this temple. As an employee of the Kameyama Shachu company founded by Sakamoto Ryoma, Kondo played a role in the procurement of ships and weapons for the Choshu clan in 1865. However,…
Nagasaki’s Confucian Shrine (called Koshi-byo) rises like an exotic spectral island in the middle of a typical Japanese neighborhood. Walking up Hollander Slope, past a women’s college, through the old Western-style houses in Higashi-yamate, one can see the sharply curving roofs and brilliant colors of Chinese buildings as you look into the valley. Koshi-byo is…
American Roots. Traveling Boots. 
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