Inner Muses

View of my old neighborhood of Sakuragaoka (桜丘) from the top of the new Shibuya Scramble Square building. It's now December 16, 2019 and I returned to the US on November 22nd. Here's a blog entry I wrote before leaving Japan back in September as I was coming to grips with the decision to return. ~~~ It's been more than a year since I last blogged. I guess I've been spending more time living than writing about living. :-) Well, that "just living" time in Japan is likely coming to an end very soon. What's ultimate dragging me back to the US, with much sadness and regret, is money. People say that living in Japan is expensive. It's really not true. What's driving me back is the unjust healthcare system of the US and the fact that I must provide US  healthcare insurance for my family. But you might ask, aren't you heading back because Japan is more expensive than the US? No. Taxes are higher in Japan for me than in the US. But, I ...

This morning we were woken at 7AM by an announcement voice. It's Sunday, March 4, 2018, and one of the few mornings I can sleep in.  What is going on? Yuriko is visiting from mid-February to the end of March. She's having a hard time making it out and there's no way I can understand that distant Japanese. We think it's an announcement about a practice fire alarm from the building intercom in the dining room. The bedroom door is closed, so it's muffled. Great, a practice fire alarm, on Sunday morning. LOL. This moment is an amazing snapshot in time and I've got to render it in words. We're living in temporary housing in Akasaka - right in the heart of Tokyo. However, time is almost up. March 15th is the day we must move out. Our brief stint in Paradise. Kinori has already left for Advance Hang-loose lacrosse practice far away. The new season for the amateur, men's league is coming up and the practices have begun. Friday night was a meeting and dri...