About the Author
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the Internets a better place. Thanks for reading!
The JKLLR on Twitter
- Rocking out at work to T-ara's "Lovey Dovey". youtube.com/watch?v=whL-2s… 13 hours ago
- Good luck pencils I bought in Japan, for language study. instagr.am/p/PKISZWi7l8/ 15 hours ago
- The greatest collaboration ever. I purchased this in Tokyo at a King Tut exhibit. instagr.am/p/PJ8BwlC7ul/ 16 hours ago
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Monthly Archives: May 2011
Arashi and the Hyakunin Isshu
Lately, I’ve been enjoying a certain Arashi single called “Dear Snow” quite a bit. You can see a video for it here among other places on the Intertubes. It’s quite a good song. My wife said it was used as … Continue reading
Homonyms in Japanese
Recently, while reading Tae Kim’s excellent article about Kanji, he addressed the question about the usefulness of kanji in Japanese language. One might ask, why such a convoluted system (2 alphabets + kanji)? As Tae Kim explains, the kanji help … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT, Language
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Buddhism: Donating more than just money
“Then he [The Medicine King Bodhisattva] put on many kinds of incense—sandalwood, kunduruka, turushka, prikka, aloes and resin incense—and drank the fragrant oil of gardenia and other kinds of flowers for fully twelve hundred years. With his body anointed with … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Religion
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Confucianism: standing up for what’s right
Lately I’ve been mulling over this quotation from the Analects of Confucius (trans. by Prof. Charles A. Muller): [15:7] Confucius said: “The Historiographer Yu was truly of straight character. When the government was just, he was like an arrow. When … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Religion
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The “gaijin” myth
For some reason, the notion of “foreigner” in Japanese culture is really fascinating to foreigners. So much so, that Wikipedia has an entry on it. You can also find plenty of blogs where foreigners living in Japan feel excluded or … Continue reading
Posted in Japan, Travel
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Teru Teru Bozu
As the weather has been especially miserable this year in Seattle, my wife and daughter decided one afternoon to make some teru teru bōzu to make the rain go away: Teru Teru Bozu are very easy to make: take one … Continue reading
Posted in Japan
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Breaking Habits the Buddhist Way
Lately, I re-read Rev. Tagawa’s book on Yogacara (Hossō) Buddhism as translated by Professor Muller. Chapter Five delves into the cycle of “seeds” perfurming the mind, which in turn lead to thoughts and actions that generate more seeds. Here “seeds” … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Hosso, Religion
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Omikuji Fortunes
Tourists who come to Japan, and see Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines will often seen small fortune-telling boxes called omijikuji (おみくじ). There are various ways of drawing a fortune, such as drawing sticks out of a box, or pulling folded … Continue reading
Posted in Japan, Religion, Shinto, Travel
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Part Two: particles in Japanese
Recently, as a self-review of Japanese language, I’ve been reading Tae Kim’s excellent Guide to Japanese (now on iPhones as a free app), and I was struck by a comment in one section about sentence order. He argues near the … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT, Language
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Teaching Children to use Chopsticks
Parenting is a fun topic, but even more interesting when you consider multi-cultural parenting. I learned to use chopsticks in high-school at a local sushi/teriyaki restaurant (I ended up working there later), but until then I had never encountered them … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Japan
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