MoreTrees

Last weekend, I found the website to the Japan-based organization, MoreTrees. Here is my amateur translation (Japanese-English) of the “introduction” section of their website. If you are interested, hopefully this will give you an understanding of where they are coming from (despite my potentially garbled translation): MoreTrees: Introduction ‘The name “MoreTrees,” is a call to [...]

Study Japanese with Ken Tanaka: The Power of Music and Coffee

When I was a university student, a band that I was in (and am still “in,” even though I’m an ocean away) – Special Dental Team, wrote several songs with Japanese titles and even one with Japanese lyrics. In retrospect, I do recommend this as a study tactic to be stressed in my 50 Study [...]

50 Ways to Increase Your Japanese Language Ability (Study Techniques)

I have been studying Japanese for eight years. The first three years I studied at a university in the United States (studying and working for the university as a Japanese tutor). One year was spent working in South Korea and studying Japanese every morning with Korean adults (I was the only non-Korean student in the [...]

Ken Tanaka: Jacob the Happy Rabbit 2

Here at The Eyeslit-Crypt, we appreciate the work of the ever-busy, Ken Tanaka. In a recent (or relatively recent) video, Tanaka seems to have put the finishing touches on his new self-published comic book, “Jacob the Happy Rabbit 2.” It’s cute and has a very “happy” story, too. Here is a brief summary of the [...]

The Open Wound (2 Tankas)

Here are two more original poems in the style of the Japanese “tanka.” I dedicate these particular two works to the brilliance of poet/author Denis Johnson whose work I am devouring as carefully as I can. The Open Wound (in 2 parts) the gruesome portal hints of eyes and torn hair-strands stare black from the [...]

Oden with Tanaka, Ken

It was a rainy and slightly muggy Tuesday evening as I caught up with Ken Tanaka in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. Amidst the neon blur of Shinjuku, we found ourselves enjoying Japanese “oden” and sharing some wonderful conversation. Thank you Ken for taking the time to meet up and converse. I hope you will find the [...]

Shiritori and Connection

Today I observed two people playing the game known as “Shiritori.” I was not involved in the game, only an observer. Basically, the game known as “shiritori,” involves connecting words by their last letter. In this way, “snake” can connect to “elephant” and so on creating a chain of connected words. The two people drew [...]