OnMyMind

One of the benefits of being an American living abroad, is that you get a new viewpoint on your home country. This is why I have comet “It’s national pride. They want their country standard to be the international standard.” Ellen Matten, international issues analyst for the U.S. Codex Office, on Japan’s reaction to a soy sauce dispute with the U.S. which wants all soy sauces created the same way.

We came home tonight to find our little village packed with cars, and filled with the muffled beating of drums. It is the Mimata Onsen Matsuri, the annual festival in this little corner of nowhere, and they celebrate, as always, with a spirited performance of Kagura. We took the opportunity to avoid cooking […]

Wanted: Snow plows, and snow plow drivers needed immediately in Shimane Prefecture for snow removal. Willing to trade current supply of Zamboni and Zamboni operators.

The first weekend of November is always the Sazanka Matsuri, Camellia Festival, here in Kanagi. It is an excuse for people to get out and get together in the autumn, and is usually a pretty good day. This year we had fabulous weather, and we made a quick stop at the festival. […]

We went to the local children’s museum today with some friends to see the new light exhibit. The theme was supposedly ‘Light”, but if it wasn’t posted as such, I probably wouldn’t have guessed it. As it is a “Children’s Museum”, I guess that I really should not have expected too much and keep in […]

I was pleased to wake up the other day, and find that I had received a nice write up on bastish.net. His post speaks with the voice of a city dweller longing for the country, but not able to give up the comfort of civilization just yet. As I read further into his site, I […]

This frog embodies exactly how I am feeling. With the beginning of rainy season, the Tsuyu Blues are kicking in. I have to admit that we have had a pretty rainless Tsuyu so far, but it is still getting muggier by the day. This is where I find some similarity with the frogs behind my […]