Welcome to China. In this remarkable, enormous, profoundly complex, indescribably polluted, yet weirdly beautiful country, one of the great claims to fame is the world’s largest population of panda bears. Visitors from all over the globe flock to Beijing and Xi’an just to catch a glimpse of these adorable creatures. When a panda is spotted, […]
FINN PULP FICTION
If you only watch one video of a nine-year old performing both parts of a classic scene from Pulp Fiction, this should be the one. As we are about to emerge from our time in China, we offer this tidbit for your viewing pleasure:
AN ARTIST IN KYOTO
Never have we witnessed more love and attention put into a single cup of coffee. Twenty-five years ago, Ishihara transformed his home into a small coffee shop on an unassuming block far off the beaten path in Kyoto. His clientele is almost one-hundred percent regulars. Six days a week, he makes between fifty and sixty […]
ROAD FOOD: PART 1
By popular demand, we offer this brief post about some of the awesome and unusual food we’ve sampled on our journey so far. The most exotic prize goes to GUINEA PIG, a favorite dish in Peru, which Mark felt compelled to order for his main course on his birthday in August. Though we don’t have […]
CHINA IN JAPAN
Our friend China, lead singer for Pink Martini, was on tour in Japan at the exact same time we were there. Happily, we got to hang out with her in Tokyo and Kyoto, and see her perform in Yokosuka. We came to the concert for China’s incredible voice, but we stayed for “The Handshake.” Check […]
WHAT WE SEE OUT THERE
Two kids on the street in Kyoto where we live. The office in Kyoto where we write.With all due respect to our charming officemates, our housemates are slightly cuter.
EXPECTATION VS. REALITY: KYOTO
Welcome to what we intend to be a continuing series where we examine the collision between our expectations for someplace or something — and the hard truth of reality. In this case, we examine a townhouse or “machiya” we rented for six nights and seven days in Kyoto. Click here to see the listing we […]
HIROSHIMA: A FAMILY REMEMBRANCE
We had always planned to go to Hiroshima from early on in thinking about our time in Japan, but we had thought it would be a day trip from Kyoto. Yet something led us to wanting more time there. We imagined Hiroshima would be a somber place, but our time there was far more vibrant […]
FINN PRESENTS SENSŌ-JI TEMPLE
Speaking in Japanese (with handy subtitles), Finn takes you on a brief tour of Sensō-Ji, an ancient Buddhist temple located in Asakusa, Tokyo. This is Tokyo’s oldest temple, and one of its most well-known. Tourists from all over the world visit Sensō-Ji every year. On the day we were there, we counted eleven different field trips of […]
SHIBUYA CROSSING!
Everybody’s favorite game show at Tokyo’s busiest intersection! Now you can play along! (TIP: Put on your glasses, play video full-screen, and focus, focus, focus!)