Where Globe-Trotting meets Beach-Combing
Photo: runway in Panama City, Panama My ‘vintage Panama’ outfit and I boarded a plane for Costa Rica to visit my college roommate Mariana in her homeland exactly one year ago today. Passport Diaries did not quite exist in a tangible form, so the only thing I posted about my trip was how I almost…
I’ve got the clutch halfway in, which in theory puts me in the ‘friction zone,’ and I’m giving it a little gas, but apparently not enough. That, or I’m not counter balancing correctly. Either way, none of these things are passing through my head at the moment, because all I’m thinking is, “Going down again!”…
Most foreigners in Japan seem to have an “I was lost, but now am found” moment. More practical than spiritual, maybe, but no less inspirational, they go along the lines of, “So I’m standing there clueless in the train station and this little miracle combusted in front of me, smiled, and took me by the…
The one radio station we understand around here said there was an antique fair in Yokohama this weekend AND a Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown! Woo-hoo! I am so down for BOTH of those adventures! Chris and I found Yokohama’s Red Brick Warehouse with minimal arguing. It was freezing, there was a damp breeze…
New Year’s Cultural Activity: wishing for luck at the temples of the Shichifukuhin, or Seven Gods of Good Fortune. Here’s a little part of the shrine whose name means ‘white fox’ or something. A successful man revisited this shrine and found it in ruins hundreds of years ago. While he was surveying the degradation, a…
The tiny pink blossoms on my front porch are plum–not cherry–blossoms. The difference is that plums, sometimes called Japan’s “friend of winter” bloom at a cooler temperature than the cherries, which tend to wait until March. Either way, neither typically blooms in January, so this is a rare treat. On the subject of Japanese flowers,…
Sometimes the word ‘furniture’ is used to describe people or things that have become commonplace or just part of the background. Think of the musical Oliver!: “Consider yourself well in! Consider yourself part of the furniture. We’ve taken to you so strong! It’s clear we’re going to get along!” Snore! What’s the point? Well, in…
