Download Kanzashi, Hotaru, and Tales from Old Japan for free from Amazon between Wednesday, March 27, 2024 and Sunday, March 31, 2024.
A Personal Update
I’m no longer working as a librarian. I resigned from my position because my moral and ethical qualms. I’m not entirely innocent; my mistakes were adding up in my boss’s view. In the end, I couldn’t enforce the policies as strict as he wanted because doing so violated my Christian convictions. After about 26 years…
Revisiting Omamori Himari
Omamori Himari was my first exposure to ecchi harem anime. It’s been over a decade since I last watched it, so I thought I’d give it a revisit. I’ve enjoyed some harem comedy in the past (the few that are fairly well-thought out), so I can, sometimes, appreciate the appeal the genre has. Even a…
Revisiting Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions
Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions explores the psychology of avoidance, coping with change, and seeing magic in everyday things. And it is a love story. The story centers around Rikka and Yuta, a pair of high school students (because life ends after high school, or because most people never leave high school). Rikka has…
JP Heads to YouTube…Kinda
Actually, JP isn’t going to be on YouTube, but my new channel, which starts today, is called “Tales from Old Japan”. The idea is to release video-book readings of Japanese folktales along with video essays about Japanese history, the lessons and importance of folklore, and other stories about and from old Japan. Expect to eventually…
Lessons to Take from Akira Toriyama’s Death
Akira Toriyama died from acute subdural hematoma. He was 68 years old. Toriyama’s started in manga by entering a Weekly Shonen Jump contest, which he lost. But his entry attracted the attention of Kazuhiko Torishima, who would later become his editor. Toriyama broke into manga when he was 23 with his first work Wonder Island,…