Andrew Crowder
@awatayama
Lucky hubby, proud girl dad. Educator & economist living in Kyoto. Immigrant, not expat. Devoted to literary & martial arts. Dhammapada 322 Matt. 22:36-40. 書剣同源 Haiku is also a Way.
The Japan Communist Party is basically a Democratic Socialist party. They have some slogans I can support.
Japan continues to outscore the US on the Freedom index. And we have 95%+ literacy rates, and clean streets, and low crime. Kyoto is a college town, with Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and Jews living in peace. We are keeping the flame of liberty alive here. There’s a simple secret: Learn.
At Naoshima, an islet in the Seto Inland Sea; The art’s big, expensive, foreign; much of it, & the most toniest places to stay, funded by a major corporation. Saw many signs: 生活者ファスト, “Residents First.” The characters literally mean “ones doing life here,” as if “citizen” was not an idea.
If any of you, friends, are seeking consolation for the notion that engendering a child is tantamount to delivering that child to death: Seek consolation in the Sermon on the Mount; and in the Katha Upanishad. Myself, I do not wish to let go; but to love passionately for eternity.
Landed in Japan 7 years ago today. First outing, two days later, with FIL and daughter, to Kyoto Botanical Gardens via subway.
Peaceful Luna, napping between two weapons, a jō 杖, short staff, and a bokutō 木刀, wooden sword. Her ironic comment on my youthful desire, long gone now, to be a hero? I think cats are wise in ways we don’t fully understand. Anyway. I’m old now. All that is left is the daily discipline.
Improv by classically-trained musicians in Kyoto. We usually associate musical improv with jazz.
Netflix’ landing page ca. 1999. TBH it still looks better than most Japanese websites.
Japan trounced Tunisia 4-0 at the World Cup today despite lopsided officiating that saw referees not calling fouls against Japan that left one of their players bleeding on the pitch. I guess when you don't have precision passing and teamwork, you rely on playing like it's the NBA.
My singing teacher told me today that I have two main tasks: -To learn how to get my voice into the world (power, tone, diction), and -To find my own voice, different from his. He’s 26. Whence comes this wisdom?
This morning’s sermon by our Pastor, Tak Fujiwara, spoke of lifting people up in three ways: Lifting the oppressed out of silence; lifting the hesitant & diffident into courage and action; and lifting all out of the fear of death, into Resurrection. May courage find us all, brothers and sisters.
A little late for Memorial Day. But this is the headstone of one of my godfathers.
Building blocks. I’m ho ores that this young man, 35 years younger than I, accepts me as a student. There are great untapped wells of human strength in the world. It’s time to draw on them.
The valor & industry of my wife’s people have given me the outrageous privilege of living here. It’s unearned. The way I can earn my way into it is sharing this city with others as I can: I try to help tourists who are obviously lost. But I must say American tourists SUCK. Arrogant. Suspicious.
We live behind a modest hotel, the kind that school trips & amateur sports teams use. The first two years, hated the racket- buses parking, kids screaming, players celebrating. Used to it now. I like it. “Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” Sam Walter Foss
El Abrazo (The Embrace) The fusion of two cultures. Jorge Gonzales Camarena 1980
A yosegaki hinomaru from WWII and a blood chit from the Bosnian war, presented without comment.
"As I look beyond- Neither flowers[cherry], Nor colored leaves [maple], [But] A reed-roofed hut on the bay, In the autumn evening." This is the 12th century ur-poem of haiku. Cherry and maple are spring and fall; never coexisting; the poet looks through time, to tell a greater truth.
When USN had honor, and could expect honor in return. My next-door neighbor started in A-7s and finished in FA-18s. Mr. Carroll, you have a voice. DO something!
Here’s a ‘blood chit’ carried by a friend of mine during the Kosovo War. Such things had meaning when the USN still had honor, and could expect honor in return.