Author Archive
My friend Stanley is visiting. We were roommates for a time, and he’s one of the most positive people I know. I overheard this brilliant conversation this morning. His wife was getting ready to come into Tokyo from the suburbs with their 2-yr old son, and his wife was having difficulty negotiating. Here is my [...]
The last day of summer came the same day as the new year. A typhoon swept through last Wednesday on the 8th, and the rain stopped just before sunset, in time for Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish new year. This summer’s heat felt especially oppressive. Some days, it was hard to move. But [...]
In Okinawa, there are high-speed ferries between the islands of the Yaeyama Archipelago. Between Ishigaki Island and Kohama Island, a strong north wind blows, kicking up large waves. On any trip, the captain keeps the ship on heading, but adjusts speed as necessary. Sometimes he would drive the ferry over a wave, and we would [...]
“Yochan, Otsukaresan” Jason, good job today. Said Sensei. “Arigato Gozaimashita.” I sais, and bowed in thanks. I was surprised to see how happy I felt, and I am reminded of how special a role Aikido has played in my life.1. 1. Commune: Unlike Chinese Taiji or Wushu, which can be performed alone, the forms in [...]
Toastmasters is like a dojo, a model of the larger world, where members can experiment and can get to know themselves better. At a any given meeting, the agenda-maker sends out the agenda, and the chair confirms roles, and runs the meeting. On a particular meeting in June, the agenda-maker sent the proposed agenda just [...]
I climbed Mt. Fuji last Friday with 12 friends last Friday. It was my third time up the mountain. Here is an excerpt of a letter to friends about the climb: Climbing Mt. Fuji is can be an anticlimactic or harrowing experience, depending on what you went on to the mountain looking for. Before there [...]
I had a dream in which I was picking coconuts, and dropped them down to a friend below, who caught them, and then we enjoyed the coconuts together. As we refreshed ourselves on sweet coconut juice and soft meat, I thought – when picking coconuts alone, the coconuts will shatter if they are thrown down. [...]
I was at a bar with a friend of mine at a Spanish bar near my house. She is a few years younger than I, who was surprised that I had just had my 29th birthday. “I think one of the things that makes you seem young is the way you emotionally engage with the [...]
At the end of May, I decided to take a mini-retirement. After working for 6 years, it was just the right time for a sabbatical. “Sabba” is “seven” the seventh in a sequence has been the day of rest since old-testament times. Seventh day of the week is the sabbath. Seventh year of working is [...]
I was invited by Mieko Kobayashi, the head coach and a fellow Toastmaster, to coach a pair of teams for the Imagine Cup, a worldwide competition between schools that challenges students to come up with solutions to world problems. This year’s problems were drawn from the United Nations Development Program’s Millenium Development Goals. One of [...]
