March 13, 2023 The Japanese government announced the end of the requirement for wearing masks. The woman reclining on the pedestal was keen. She tossed her mask away as soon as she read the news. One problem, however. She tossed away her clothes as well. Perhaps she read too much into the government announcement. This …
The title makes little sense, but I chose it because the word Prefrontal Cortex tickled my ears. How else could I introduce a series of old photos from the trunk I unearthed in the basement? The photos record snapshots of the places my feet have taken me during my long walks around Yokohama in the …
JOY The road leading to the Kanagawa Prefecture Library in Yokohama is steep and passes by a sculpted couple dancing on a pedestal. Ah, dancing. One of the joys in life. In my younger days, I danced cheek-to-cheek with the women whose company I enjoyed. “Dancing is like dreaming with your feet,” Constanze Mozart (1762-1842) …
Woman Among the Bushes
Rodin’s Meditation The radio announcer warned of the approaching typhoon, but I was determined to get out of the apartment. For five solid days, I sat glued to my desk chair and humped over a 300-page manuscript. Painstakingly, I went line by line to root out misspelled words, ill-positioned semicolons, dangling modifiers, and other miscreants …
Tammachi Park is a brisk fifteen-minute walk from my apartment in Yokohama. I often walk through it on my way to a supermarket. Once in a while, I sit on a park bench and read. When I grow weary of reading, I observe vignettes of life unfolding in front of me. A mother watching her …
“Meet me in Bashamichi,” my friend texted me. He wanted to introduce me to a restaurant he recently discovered. “Where in Bashamichi?” I texted back. “In front of the sculpture.” “Sculpture?” “The one in front of the coffee shop.” A telling commentary of modern life when we refer to coffee shops as pinpoints on maps …
Yokohama is home to many famous tourist sights. Among them, China Town, Minato Mirai 21, Motomachi, Yamashita Park, and the historic Yamate Bluff quickly come to mind for day trippers as destinations to enjoy and explore. Other more challenging Yokohama locations appeal to hikers and cyclists. https://www.alltrails.com/japan/kanagawa/yokohama Yokohama’s museums featuring art exhibitions of world-renowned artists …
The title page and the ending page are based on the woodcut prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
The war in Ukraine continues unabated. Russian forces have intensified their attacks in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions and unleased a savage firestorm of missiles and rockets on civilian targets in the regions. Civilian casualties continue to mount. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that the total number as …