In among the hills of Echizen, within sight of the snowy mountain called Hakuzan, lived a farmer named Bimbo. He was very poor, but frugal and industrious. He was very fond of children though he had none himself. He longed to adopt a son to bear his name, and often talked the matter over with…
The Gender-Neutral Pronoun: Ichi
As a writer, I pay attention to words. The use of the word they as a gender-neutral singular pronoun has been a debate among my editing and writing friends. Many people take offense to the use of he, she, her, his, it, and him in reference to their gender identity. Let’s set aside the identity debate…
Server Problems and Writing Update
As you may have noticed, JP was down for few days. My webhost migrated to a new, faster server and broke a bunch of things. I think they are fixed. If you see anything odd, please let me know! I haven’t given you a writing update in awhile: I finished the first draft of a…
Kiyohimé or the Power of Love
Kiyohimé was written down around 1887 and contains dated language and spellings. This period brought many stories from Japan to the West. I left the language unchanged; I find the language charming. A bonze is another name for a Japanese or Chinese monk. A bonzerie is a monastery. Quiet and shady was the spot in the…
My Next Life as a Villainess
I watched My Next Life as a Villainess on a whim. I had been deep in my revisiting of various past anime series and needed something new. The new anime season has been thin with COVID-19 related closures and other events hampering production schedules. My Next Life offered a different look on the isekai genre….
The Three Legends of Lake Biwa
These three stories combine to create a single legend. I kept the original 1918 spellings and grammar. I find them charming and interesting examples of how language can change. Language changes quite a bit over the course of a century. In any case, I hope you enjoy these stories. While up fishing on Lake Biwa,…