Just because mom is your biggest fan doesn’t mean you’re a bad politician.

My team of three, drawn together by a common vision of island relaxation, was as such: a tango-dancing vegan, a bearded trickster, and myself. This is our story.

The winds are wild and the rains are heavy in Japan, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to drink!

Every year on February 28th the Kiwara Fudoson temple in Tomiai holds a firewalking festival.

I went to a lake near Uto to break in my new camera.  What did I find? I found that despite the cold weather, love is in the air in Kumamoto. Especially among cats.

What happens when the Okoi Group sends a mission to Hiroshima?

Every once in a while a horse would be taunted in to bucking, kicking out his hind legs at the crowd with saliva foaming from his mouth and eyes rolling drunkenly in his sockets.

For every year since 1989, a man from Kumamoto by the name of Charlie Nagata has put together a country music fiesta at ASPECTA, a musical venue boasting the world’s longest stage perched on a hillside in the world’s largest caldera.
The first time I met Good Time Charlie and his Cannonballs was within my first [...]

The Legend of Mary of Ozu

For the entertainment for my students (and myself) I’ve been producing superbly low-grade comic adventures featuring Ran-Chan as the hero. I’ve put them under a new tab on the site’s home page, entitled “The Adventures of Ran-Chan.” Check them out!