When we first explored the Kobe 神戸市 area as possibly somewhere to live when we moved to Japan, Kitano-cho 北野町 immediately struck us as a very special sort of place.
A Farewell to Rabbit – and some words on idiom
I have just finished reading the “Rabbit” tetralogy by John Updike. At over 1500 pages, this had been a marathon read. I had read the first of the four novels, Rabbit Run, as a young man, but had not read any other of his works since, before I tackled reading the whole set a little earlier […]
Onsen 温泉 – A Great Japanese Tradition
Ever since my first visit to Japan, almost 20 years ago, I have always loved visiting the country’s great traditional hot springs 温泉. My first visit to an onsen was in Nita , in Shimane-ken 島根県. Although I had read much of the etiquette of the onsen, I was lucky enough, on that occasion […]
