I am literally sitting in a café right now in Kyoto writing to you all. It is a riverside cafe, so I am enjoying a café au lait and lemon tart on the veranda overlooking the Kamo river. The master stepped out with a small tupper of sardines and started throwing them off the deck attracting all sorts of cats and birds. A hungry looking heron is pacing the handrail of the deck, staring at me from about 10 feet away. His long thin tongue darts out of his pointy beak as he eyes me accusingly, waiting for another sardine. Quite intimidating actually. I turn away, angling my chair to look more downriver. Know that I continue to write in the face this danger to make sure this newsletter gets to you!
I have been here in Kyoto for about a week on a sort of writing retreat. The book research has reached the point where I can start actually putting all my historical and travel notes into some early chapters. However, I haven’t had a chance to write much since I have been taking some exciting meetings here. Just this afternoon I spent time with a startup doing digitalwood interfaces. And in a little while I will be meeting a documentary filmmaker who filmed at Shaolin temple, the famous Mecca for kung fu artists.
OMG a second, bigger heron landed and scared off the first!
Anyways...
This month has been a busy one. Kids are back in school, we evacuated our house due to typhoon (see post below), and I have spent quite a bit of time on the road. I haven’t had a chance to write up all these experiences yet, but here is a quick list that might serve as a preview for future posts:
- Travelled to Fukuoka to talk to a bunch of local startup people. Also visited the cool new Engineering Cafe. Solid networking!
- Visited the ancient capital of western Japan: Dazaifu.
- Took the boat over to Karatsu where we discovered that Halloween is already in full swing, as you can tell by the Karatsu station train conductor pinecone Godzilla.
- Rode the train on to Imari, where the Mongol ships were capsized by storms in the second invasion.
- Drove to Arita, the pottery capital of Kyushu, where there is a brilliant ceramic torii . ⛩
- Walked around a replica of Zwinger palace tucked away in the Saga mountains.
And now I am here in Kyoto. It is actually quite cold here, so my Hawaiian shirts and shorts are even more out of place than usual. Well, you know what they say: keep palm and carry on.
Until next time!
/ck
🖋 From the Blog
Writing macrons on macOS and iPadOS
A quick tutorial for getting bars over your vowels when writing Japanese words.
First island typhoon experience
My account of the days (and stress) leading up to a Super Typhoon hitting us on Iki. Filled with tips that could help you prep for your next typhoon.
Invoking the God of Letters to fight Coronavirus
A newspaper article coincided with my trip to Fukuoka and Dazaifu. I string together the pieces and add some photos.
What’s your travel philosophy?
I read this book in order to think about my own writing. This isn’t a review, but expect something like a review to come out in print soon.
🧭 Elsewhere
My latest review for the Literary Review of Canada contemplates public transit and the banning of private cars. Published in the October edition. Link → ($)
The Writers in Kyoto group visited the Netsuke Museum. It was quite illuminating to learn about this art of miniature sculpture. Link →
My photos from around Fukuoka. Link →
Some photos from around Dazaifu, the old western capital of Japan. Link →
David Graeber passed this month. In mourning him I read his lovely essay “What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun?” Uplifting. Link →