Rest In Peace, Kazuo Umezz
Rest In Peace, Kazuo Umezz
It was reported that one of the giants of Japanese manga, Kazuo Umezz, died at the end of last month at the age of 88. Among the numerous masterpieces he left us, "The Drifting Classroom" is
Akiko
speaks: Japanese
learns: English
likes: reading, travel, cooking, language learning, health, art, cinema, language exchanges, philosophy, music, history, tv shows, programming, movies
I live in Toyama, Japan. In winter it snows a lot and we have to dig our cars out of the snow. I was a single mother raising my only son. Now he is independent and lives in Tokyo. Later then, I have started to relearn English during the Covid lockdown period and also started playing guitar at the same time. I am a web engineer and working remotely for a company.
Toyama, Japan
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Recent Posts
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Nov 6 - 1 min. read
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The Same Guitar Strings That Elliott Used
The Same Guitar Strings That Elliott Used
I'm a new fan of Elliott Smith. When I first started playing guitar, I watched a lot of solo guitar and vocals videos, and the YouTube algorithm recommended his. I immediately fell in love with his
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Nov 3 - 1 min. read
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Dance As Therapy: Part 3
Dance As Therapy: Part 3
The night before the recital, the incidental musician came from Tokyo, and we did a dress rehearsal. We painted our bodies white and wore the white outfits we'd made on our own. The music for my
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Nov 2 - 2 min. read
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Dance As Therapy: Part 2
Dance As Therapy: Part 2
I was set to perform both a group dance and a solo at the recital, but I particularly want to focus on the solo in this series of posts. The choreography my instructors created for me was so simple
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Nov 1 - 2 min. read
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Dance As Therapy: Part 1
Dance As Therapy: Part 1
I ended up taking a butoh dance class for a couple of years. I hadn’t planned on joining something so unusual and intense, but before I realized it, I was fully immersed in it. Those were my craziest
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Oct 29 - 1 min. read
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The Chinese and Japanese Languages: Part 2
The Chinese and Japanese Languages: Part 2
How we read ancient Chinese As I previously stated, Japanese high school students study ancient Chinese literature and poetry, but the grammars of both languages differ greatly from one another. So,
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Oct 26 - 3 min. read
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Taking Over Work for a Friend
Taking Over Work for a Friend
I haven't had the energy to write posts lately because of a sad experience. I'm sorry to bring up such a serious subject, but I want to write about it. Journaly has already become more than just a
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Oct 19 - 2 min. read
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The Chinese and Japanese Languages: Part 1
The Chinese and Japanese Languages: Part 1
My previous post received a lot of interesting comments from Journalers, which motivated me to write more about the Chinese and Japanese languages. Simplified and traditional Chinese characters
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Oct 7 - 3 min. read
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Can We Japanese Understand Written Chinese?
Can We Japanese Understand Written Chinese?
Sometimes I get asked how well we Japanese understand written Chinese. My answer is that I can only guess 30% of it. We studied ancient Chinese literature and poetry in high school, so I understand
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Sep 29 - 1 min. read
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How To Learn Japanese
How To Learn Japanese
I received a comment from a Japanese learner who asked me for recommendations and advice in learning Japanese. However, to be honest, I'm not sure whether I can make any useful suggestions because my
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Sep 23 - 1 min. read
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English Reading
English Reading
I'm a slow reader even in Japanese, let alone in English, but finally I've come to feel that it's easier to read in English if the content was originally written in English. I used to frequently
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Sep 22 - 1 min. read
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My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 6 What I've Learned About The Wind Cave
My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 6 What I've Learned About The Wind Cave
In this post, I'm going to write about what I found out about the Wind Cave online later on, as well as what I heard from Motoshima-san. When was it created? The oldest record of its existence is
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Sep 19 - 2 min. read
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My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 5 Wind Cave
My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 5 Wind Cave
After checking out of our guesthouse, we all headed to the Wind Cave. It was me, again, who suggested visiting there, after seeing a tiny photo and a brief description in a brochure for
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Sep 17 - 1 min. read
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My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 4 Earthworks Guesthouse
My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 4 Earthworks Guesthouse
The Earthworks Guesthouse was a cozy and lovely place to stay. It's owned by a couple, Roberto and Rumi, who are both ceramic artists. It was originally an old silkworm farmhouse and they totally
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Sep 13 - 1 min. read
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My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 3 Three-Year-Old Kan-kun
My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 3 Three-Year-Old Kan-kun
On the first night, Motoshima-san and his family visited our guesthouse, and we all had a great meal and chat. The Hitonoma children had all grown significantly over the past seven years. Some of the
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Sep 10 - 2 min. read
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Interlude: Strange Calendars in Japan
Interlude: Strange Calendars in Japan
Unfortunately, all of my friends who came with me to Ueda disposed of the calendars we received at the Anraku temple. So I found similar calendars online: 自分の使命を生きるための 日めくりカレンダー あなたの人生はあなたのもの What's
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Sep 6 - 1 min. read
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My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 2 Zazen Meditation Experience
My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 2 Zazen Meditation Experience
I was intending to write about my recent trip following a timeline, but I'm still recovering from my shingles, so I'll write about the easiest one tonight. On the second day, eight of us out of 18
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Sep 5 - 1 min. read
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Shingles
Shingles
I was going to write about my trip, but I currently have shingles and don't have the energy to write about a complex topic. I’m writing this in my bed with my cellphone, so my English skills might be
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Sep 1 - 1 min. read
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My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 1 Hitonoma Children and Motoshima-san
My Short Trip to Ueda: Part 1 Hitonoma Children and Motoshima-san
From Monday to Tuesday, I visited Ueda in Nagano Prefecture with some friends and my son. When he was middle-school age, my son didn't go to public school but instead attended Hitonoma, an
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Aug 29 - 1 min. read
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The Biggest Earthquake I've Ever Experienced: Part 4
The Biggest Earthquake I've Ever Experienced: Part 4
We hadn't been able to reach Aya, who I mentioned in this post, for more than a week. We breathed a big sigh of relief when she finally tweeted for the first time after the earthquake. A few months
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Aug 23 - 1 min. read
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