Discoveries from around the archipelago
A few weeks ago, Stonebridge Press sent me an advance copy of My Year of Dirt and Water: The Journal of a Zen Monk's Wife in Japan by Tracy Franz. I've been fortunate to review a good many Japan-themed books on this blog over the years but never before have I been privileged to review the book... Continue Reading →
We're into August now and still our furniture has yet to arrive. The promised transit time of two weeks seemed feasible, if a little "too good to be true", but four weeks? From Kumamoto? Come on now. I can't take eating my meals on the tile kitchen floor any longer. It's been entirely too hot here in... Continue Reading →
I find I have a strange fascination as of late with the pottery town of Arita. It's not that I am even all that into porcelain, which is what Saga Prefecture's Arita has been producing - to perfection, some might say - for the past 399 years. But when a town takes as much pride... Continue Reading →
I’ve just come back from three packed days of sightseeing and eating in Kyoto and, while I’d love to keep this amazing matcha cheesecake a secret, I can’t help but share with you all my new favorite café in the old capital. If you’ve been fighting the crowds on the Kiyomizu-zaka (one of the main... Continue Reading →
Kumamoto is a surprisingly big prefecture. I live in Kumamoto city, which is on the western coast of Kyushu and practically touches the Ariake Sea. A solid hour's drive to the east brings me to the Mt Aso region and the border of Kumamoto, Oita and Miyazaki prefectures somewhere in central Kyushu. A solid hour's... Continue Reading →
