[Last month I asked your advice about the frequency of the newsletter and the resounding response was to keep it monthly. So here is your August roundup! Thank you for your feedback!]
How is summer treating you? Did you get much of a break? We saw our 7th case of coronavirus on Iki Island, the first case in months. It didn’t take long for authorities to track down over 300 possible contacts and test them (all negative, with a couple under observation). We weren’t around for the whole contact-tracing investigation. We spent almost 2 weeks in Kyoto during our 3 week break (more details in the posts below). It was nice visit to the city, but the weather (low 40s celsius and high 70s for humidity) meant we had to limit our time outside. I wasn’t able to walk the old capitals streets, and visit as many temples and shrines as I would normally. During that trip I started reading by Emily Thomas. So far it is pretty enjoyable, and has me pondering all the different reasons humans (myself included) engage in travel. The introspection has been valuable as I consider my larger project of writing a travelogue in a time when people are not supposed to travel. It also has me imagining possible futures for travel as we know it: Will we return to an age when the only way a normal person could “travel” was to rely on the travel writing of others? Emily Thomas discusses the age of popular travel, the Grand Tour and the invention of package tours by Thomas Cook in the 19th century. Before then, natural philosophers, hungry for “observations” of the earth and all her bounty, depended on the travel writings of explorers and missionaries (and hucksters and disinformationists). Imagine if regular people had the internet back then? Will people rely on  I will be pondering this as I return to Kyoto in a few weeks. I will be going on my own this time, and intend to spend about 10 days in writing retreat, working on some chapters. Until next time, /ck   Celebrating one of my fav podcasts, and their contribution to the movement. Points if your answer was “after Western race theory arrived.” Planes, ferries, and jetfoils! Visiting Ground Zero in 2020. Saw some art. Sharing it! I learned a lesson on productivity.   RZA made a banging track for ice cream trucks. #wutang4eva I planned to go to Malaysia next year, but am relegated to continue reading travel pieces. A short journey through Johor: Uber is the worst, part infinity. This Jedi mind trick totally works on me. What do you hear?

Greetings!

Rainy season is upon us in Japan. The air is muggy and it takes forever for laundry to dry. I am sweating as I type this. But those are minor problems as we continue to watch the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and their fallout all across the world (more on that below). My June has been dominated by watching those protests and the changes they have wrought. And as the coronavirus pandemic moves to second page here in Japan, we are able to travel domestically once again: I went to Nagasaki to pick up my Japanese driver’s license and do some research, and also to Kyoto with the family. Two trips in one month! Next month I plan to take a couple more trips to both the mainland and another island, closer to Korea.

There is a lot about Nagasaki on my blog linked below, but I would like to spend a moment on Kyoto. This month saw the 100 day anniversary of my mother-in-law’s passing. This can be an important milestone in Buddhism, but it was especially important for us since we missed her 49 day memorial due to the coronavirus State of Emergency. We had to make it to Kyoto. It was a whirlwind trip of temples and cemeteries, family and restaurants, but we took our only free afternoon to visit the famous Fushimi Inari. It was the same day as all travel restrictions had been lifted so there were a lot more people , but it was not nearly as crowded as it usually is. It was my first time. In all the years I spent in Kyoto the crowds had always kept me away. The weather was good so I enjoyed sweating it up the hill. I hope you enjoy the photos linked below.

Greetings from Iki!

After two months of hotels and the houses of friends and family, we finally made it to our destination. Six months ago we sent in our application for the Study Abroad Program — it is a relief to finally be here. I have not added very many blog posts this month since we have been kept busy settling in. This week I must fly to Nagasasaki for a day in order to pick up my driver’s license. One of the challenges of island living is not having access to certain official processes. However, there are many positives to the isolation. We are lucky to be able to conduct relatively normal life on the island. Other than the ubiquity of facemasks, and complete absence of tourists, life on our sleepy island continues normally. The kids are in school full-time, we are going to museums and catching fireflies, and slowly settling into a normal schedule. I have started my book research and have been writing some upcoming blog posts.

Greetings from Japan!

First of all, I hope you and yours are well. My family and I are doing fine. As you may or may not know, we moved to Japan about 6 weeks ago to participate in a “study abroad” program on a small island (see the first link from my blog below for details). Thus, I am relaunching the newsletter for the next phase in my writing life.

This newsletter is how I send a short monthly(ish) note to people interested in me and/or my work. Not everyone gets my updates via RSS or Twitter, so this newsletter is a convenient way to get notified of blog updates as well as other interesting tidbits that I curate and share. It has been almost 3 years since I sent an update, so if you are not a recent subscriber, you probably signed up in one of my previous membership drives. I hope you stick around, but if you no longer want to receive updates there is an Unsubscribe link in the footer.

A-hoy-hoy!

My May letter was sent into an internet black hole, so this month we have a double-packed edition.

May is Asian Heritage month, and it was a busy one for volunteer work. Pretty much every weekend was booked up with one event or another where I was hauling stuff, taking photos, herding children, and trying to be a good ally to our Asian communities.

Also, May was supposed to bring some downtime for me, but then my company went and , so things are as busy as ever and going to get busier. I am feeling really positive about the future right now, though, so that is good. June has been a bit better, and I have been able to blog more. Next month I am looking forward to going to, and documenting my first meditation retreat at .

A-hoy-hoy!

It has been a while since I last wrote… almost two months! A very busy time for me as I have been working on a large project at work, and also writing and exploring some things in private. Normally I like to think out loud on my blog, but I am at the beginning of my thinking and have nothing worthy to say, so I have kept quiet (for once!).

A-hoy-hoy!

The last time we talked, it was a different world. It was before the inauguration of President Trump. I cannot add much more to the myriad discussions other than to add my raised fist in resistance. We have a federal conservative leadership and a provincial election coming up this year, so it is our chance north of the border to nip any of this rightwing nationalist bullshit right in the racist bud.

In lighter news, if you are in Kelowna next week and want to hear me over-analyze writing apps (as I am wont to do) I will be heading up a group discussion at co+Lab. Details here:

A-hoy-hoy!

Enjoying your holidays? Looking forward to a newer, and hopefully better year?

It is the last day of the year in Japan and we are watching , the end of year music extravanganza that has been going for like 65 years. Soon we will ring in the new year literally, heading over to our local temple at midnight to ring the bell. We only have a few days left in Japan before we head back to the snowy, frozen wastelands of Canada, when life returns to normal. This is my final newsletter of the year.

A-hoy-hoy!

I am writing to you from a Starbucks in Japan right now. We are here for three weeks visiting my inlaws. Look for a bunch of posts from Japan in the next little while, but if you want to follow in real time, keep an eye on my Flickr and feeds.

A-hoy-hoy!

I have been away for awhile. Part of it was busy-ness (and )… and part of it was a Trump-induced depressive lethargy. 😩

A-hoy-hoy!

Hashtag #realtalk: we have a systemic race problem in Canada. This month I explore some of the problem, and reveal how I, as a privileged CIS white dude, came to realize it. Maybe you have a similar story, or maybe this can help you or someone you know on their own journey. Please share, we need to talk about it.

A-hoy-hoy!

Last time I emailed you from a Greyhound bus as I was heading to the Sunshine Coast for a little summer holiday. Since then I have been pretty busy. Starting a new job (pic of the building, pic of ) and attending community events such as . Thus, only one email this month.

Ahoy-hoy!

Well, I got a new job. So that is pretty exciting. I will be working on the digital production system for an education content company. I must say, it feels really good to be out of adtech.

Ahoy-hoy!

I know it has only been a few weeks since my last email, but I have realized that many of the things I have been writing and reading about are based around language and communication. I thought I could wrap them up in a nice little thematic package for you.

Language from brain → blog

You don’t tell me when I should speak English — multicultural parenting and language rights
Multicultural families deal with bilingualism in different ways. Don't assume, and don't infringe on their rights.

A-hoy-hoy! How have you been? Been a busy month for me.

My recent posts

I straightened things up around the blog and launched a newsletter. But you already knew about that 😉

So the mayor is going to a party in drag. Let's ask this achingly obvious straight white punter for his irrelevant opinion.

A-hoy-hoy,

This is my inaugural newsletter, an alternative way for people to keep up with my writings and other goings on. This is mostly meant for people to keep up who don't use RSS, Twitter or Google+. In today's world, email is the Great Equalizer.

I have not quite settled on a format or a voice, so you will have to bear with me. This is certainly a work in progress, but I thought I should at least have a public sample so you could get an idea of what to expect. One thing too look out for is slightly different content than you might find if you just followed the blog. Expect some book review links, or some short comments on things that happened that month. It will be a much more personal experience than a poor old XML feed. ;-)

Keep in mind, I want to make this thing short: a light snack for your eyes. I know you are busy. The actual newsletters should only be about half this length. The signup link is here if you would like to share it: https://tinyletter.com/chadkoh