Rebecca’s Reflections
Dancing Dōjōji—Finding the Demon Within
Part Two: The Choreographer and the Secret Lessons I can’t tell you her name. I promised to keep her Nihon buyō lessons confidential. That sounds odd, I suppose. It’s not as if she is stealing secrets or trying to profit off the hard work of others. The lessons she...
Dancing Dōjōji—Finding the Demon Within
Part One: The Tragedy of the Maiden Scorned I’m not a theater professional. But I love teaching about Japan’s classic theaters—Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku. One tale among all others captures students’ imagination, “The Maiden of Dōjōji,” a story of monstrous...
Writing Across Cultures: A Review of Karen Hill Anton’s A Thousand Graces
Award-winning author Karen Hill Anton is an extraordinary person. Originally from New York City, she moved to the countryside of Shizuoka, Japan in the mid-1970s with her husband William, also a New Yorker. They have lived there ever since, raising four lovely...
To Weave a Perfect Day: From Brocade Gardens to Spools of Thread
Sometimes it’s the unexpected detours that provide the greatest pleasure. Last week, I spent the afternoon with PhD student, Ran Wei who has been spending the year in Osaka on a Japan Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. We had planned to meet at Kyoto’s...
Being Lost and Found in Kyoto
Getting lost is one method of finding your way. The outcome is usually positive, but the process is not always pleasant. Case in point: I got lost on my first run this summer in Kyoto. Badly lost. So lost I don’t even know how I got so lost. But there I was on...
Jet Lag and Time Travel
One of the worst aspects of international travel is jet lag and where it leads—the upending of schedules, the loss of moorings, the sense of walking under water. Some people are able to transition seamlessly from one time zone to another. I get discombobulated just...