With my apologies to David Letterman, here are my first five items (#10 to #6) of my top ten reasons why I like Japan. I guess you could also title this the top ten reasons to travel to Japan.  Read more on “Top 10 Reasons Why I Like Japan (#10 to #6)” »

Serendipity can be a wonderful thing. In August, I was taking a tour group around the Jinya in Takayama. As we were touring the facility, we kept hearing the sound of stringed instruments coming from somewhere in the Jinya. Finally, we happened upon the group in the video. Read more on “Taishogoto” »

September 11^th was the 6 month anniversary of the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan, but that fact was overshadowed outside of Japan by the observance of the 10^th anniversary of 9/11. Here in Japan there were numerous special services held at Buddhist temples around Japan as well as numerous silent vigils in honor of those who were killed. Initially, I had decided not to write about this, but after seeing the advertisement displayed here I changed my mind. Read more on “Six Months After” »