The crypto-Christian bug had bitten me. The whole concept of "going underground in plain sight" with something was mind-boggling to me. One of hiding places for Christians during their period of persecution was in the Amakusa  islands off the coast of Kumamoto . On my final journey in Japan before leaving, I wanted to return to Nagasaki . On the first journey to Kyushu , I noted that the offshore islands of Kumamoto Prefecture looked beautiful. I made it a point to vis

Prologue I kept a journal of my first year in Japan. Although it does not cover all the trips I made while living there, it does record many of my experiences and impressions from the time I arrived in Tokyo until I started to feel more settled (and less inclined to write as everything "normalized" around me). I had graduated from university with a Master's degree and uncertain job prospects. The US had just experienced a recession in 1981-82 and, although from 1984 onward

March 1985 On my Spring Break trip to Kyushu seeking warmth and sunshine from a still cold Sendai, I ended up in Kagoshima on the...

Daigo-ji, Kyoto. 2012 [from FB post: January 20, 2012] Saw a great temple (Daigo-ji) and shrine (Fushimi Inari) today.... wow, Japan...

Temple guardian, Ninnoji, Kyoto. 1986 [from FB post: January 16, 2012] Just found out my neither of my mobile phones will roam in Japan. ...

Sendai YMCA. March 1987 If I ever felt conflicted in my life, it was leaving Japan. I went for a two year stint and extended almost...

Me and Kimio, March 1986. On my little street in the Kawauchi section of Sendai, I lived a few houses down from "Convenience 52". It...

グラバー園. March 1985 I left my heart in Nagasaki... Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco (a part of mine, too), but I bet...

Me and Kan-chan...I think we were at Kinkarou, MS's Uncle's place. Oh yeah... I'm eating whale meat sashimi.... ummmmmmmmmmm. Onagawa,...

Skiing, Yamagata Zao. February 1986 Zao-san, a mountain straddling Honshu's spine was locally famous in both Sendai and Yamagata-city...

Daigo-ji, Kyoto. January 2012 On our last ever vacation we were in Kansai, Japan and had the rich bounty of Japanese history to choose...

Shabu-shabu in Kobe. January 2012 Shabuuu Shabuuu, you can hear it The Japanese love onomonpoeic words. "Shabu shabu" - thinly sliced...