Sakura-ko was a samurai’s daughter who had become a geisha to feed her mother after her father died. She lived on a narrow street. Sounds of geisha practicing their shamisen filled the air at all hours. Sakura-ko proved gifted with the shamisen. She also played the koto and the biwa. Sakura-ko’s liquid eyes and ivory…
Author: Chris
Breakages and Outgrowing the Current Host
No doubt you’ve noticed JP has burst apart this week with terrible load times, images not loading, and not even being available to view. Apologies for that! This has been going on for a bit, and I’ve been tweaking things in the background, but tweaks no longer cut it. Turns out the traffic JP sees…
The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi offers an interesting and different way to approach a story. The story follows a researcher as he writes about the secret family history he discovered. The narrative combines a story about the researcher’s efforts to decipher the history and write a contemporary account of it with quotes…
The Gamer Mentality and the Ultimate Power Trip Isekai: Overlord
Overlord adopts Kugane Maruyama’s light novel series. When YGGDRASIL’s servers, a deep-dive massively multiplayer online role playing game, are scheduled to be shut off, Momonga remains logged in to see the shutdown. He’s the guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown and spends the last few minutes of the game’s life in the guildhall of Nazarick. He…
My Note-Taking Method: A Way to Read, Remember, and Write Better
How you read matters as much as what you read. How I read varies. If I’m reading Spice and Wolf or other fiction, I just read. If I’m reading nonfiction, my approach depends on my goals. No matter what I’m reading, I try to read on a schedule. Reading, like so many other practices, requires…
Japanese Rock’s Place in My Music Playlists and Maybe in Yours?
Back when I first started watching anime regularly–during my early college years (I’m getting old)–I would sometimes get hooked on opening and ending themes. Two later favorites were Ichirinnohana by High and Mighty Color and Natsumi Kiyoura’s Tabi no Tochuu from the original Spice and Wolf. While I would find other opening and ending themes…