**October 20 2025 — around 8:45–10:45 a.m.**
Always so much to tell you even though still faded
Wifu’s band rehearsal went great (now with cello)
3x kid wrangling very well
18 Y/O traveler returned from his circuit with a new gf from Osaka
Neighborhood autumn festival in the rain for everyone but me
Big spontaneous dinner because of the broken freezer, using up all the things
Next morning wife and kid took the traveler to the airport
I stayed home, greeted the café proprietor from near the hospital for coffee, snacks, and a quiet kitchen-table chat
Changed my wound dressing, stitches look okay
Shower instead of beloved long bath
Early to bed with diary, headphones, and medications
Back to “normal service” today
wife to fieldwork, kid to preschool
me with baskets of laundry waiting
Forgot to mention the neighborhood-association chief stopped by about the Christmas event
I’d written a short formal note, sealed envelope, outlining ideas — music, coloring, story corner, photo stand, cocoa and cookies
He was surprised, pleased, impressed I’d put so much thought into it
Explained gently that last year we’d done 98% of the work
but maybe this time “let’s involve more of the community and make sure our neighborhood has the best Christmas event in the area”
Date and concept now set
Anyway this morning it’s coffee and baseball
with the strong possibility of traveling friends passing through
to talk about books, records, ephemera, and art-making — fingers crossed even if I’m still a bit slow-motion
While the kids were bundled together watching a movie while band was rehearsing
sat at caboose desk, rocked some postcards and last “misprints” of the Misasa zine with accompanying letters to various luminaries
Need to make my way to post office
Also ordered a super sweet and useful, functional, engraved and adorable gift for wife’s Christmas present, have a plan for kiddos presents, otherwise gonna be a really scaled back Christmas season this year for various reasons
Unsure how to approach beloved New Year cards with Canada postal strike. USPS’s increasing costs, the general nengajo decline, but it’s one of my favorite traditions though and the concept’s already set. Maybe I’ll do a small home print run and digital edition.
I’ll record my end-of-year / start-of-year festive greeting video — riff on one hundred significant things — plus Santa Claus at preschool and the community party
I take friendship seriously
play the long game
try to support folks who are having a rough go
But again this year I need to remember my own oxygen mask first
~~~
Just waking up, finally was able to take off the bandaging and switch out last night and take a look, well I can’t see the stitches but the wife took a picture… Medicated heavily to sleep
Besides the surgery there’s been a lot going on around the house With various guests coming through
You know I love having people around for a chitchat but it takes a lot of energy even when I’m keeping it in “Volkswagen second gear” mode
Today, some folks who I know from Twitter, Hokkaido market, are on a road trip from the north island, they have a shop so in books and records and all the kind of stuff I’m into and they’re hoping to swing by to do a coffee and a chitchat
It’s always tough to make casual friends here in a very serious society so hoping it works out
The 18 year-old traveler from Utah (the son of an old friend) got him off to the airport yesterday after the best 10 days of his life
Wife’s band was here rehearsing with the related children in tow so it’s been hard just to sit down and zone out but I’m gonna fire up some Mariners and Blue Jays with the Japanese announcers here shortly… Like right now
Note from a friend: Full credit to you. You’re up and watching earlier then I would be. The Canucks started at 9:30am. I watched it on PVR with coffee. It’s cool they have Japanese coverage of the game. A testament to how big baseball is there. Any other international sports get that kind of coverage?
My reply: Oh baseball is colossally huge in Japan and Shohei Ohtani’s legendary game the other day it’s a huge source of pride… Even overshadowing local boy Yamamoto who pitched a complete game win for the Dodgers and Sasaki who closed out the game
Sumo gets massive coverage (a lot of the big sumo stars are in London for an exhibition right now and taking over the media as their big dudes in kimono doing all the sightseeing stuff in London which is hilarious, rugby gets a lot a lot of love, and then some second tier sports that you might not think about like table tennis, volleyball have niche audiences
Oh right, soccer is a pretty big deal but it’s kind of like “hard-core fans only” doesn’t drift into public consciousness like baseball and sumo do
I’m only up because wife and kid work wake up like clouds of chaos and I want to see them out the door as wife’s in her tough work clothes, oh my gosh, she’s so fucking adorable, this tiny tough lady in her rough neck clothes going off in her dump truck Like a boss
The kid watches his favorite cartoons with breakfast and off into the mountains for his preschool
Later this month in between more fcking hospital visits, there is a “sweet potato harvesting event” with the preschool which we all have a picnic, last year I took roasted pumpkin seeds to share with people and they were just amazed that no one had ever thought of this before and found them delicious
Next month we have a stay over at the YMCA Lodge with the preschool which is really fun as the adults stay up late and chitchat in the cafeteria space. For a guy who used to always be camping, it’s as close to camping as I get now… There’s a large communal bath which makes it very pleasant
And today, there’s a couple, American guy, Japanese wife, who live on the northern island of Hokkaido who are on some Japan road trip, we’ve exchanged some correspondence, as they have a shop selling books and counterculture magazines and odd musical instruments and I don’t really understand, They’re a little vague and all their communication, but they’ve sent some great CDs to me and they might come by for a visit today. We’ll keep it really mellow but it’s nice to have human contact with people who aren’t preschoolers or doctors/nurses… Although the nurses with their knee socks and well starched uniforms And delicate kind demeanor occasionally very amusing :-)
All that said, don’t give me too much credit for getting up early cause I’m in bed with an iPad and a coffee, it’s not like I really migrated far :-)
But I should be folding laundry while I’m doing this ha ha
~~~
Reply to another friend: My pardon for such a slow reply, it looks like you and I have both been “through the wringer” as my Aberdeener granny would say
I keep on reducing SNS use, deleted all apps from phone and just using Twitter web version so I’m less and less communicative but I love having real personal contact so you can hit me up by either WhatsApp or iMessage
I really appreciate it how sweet your message about the passing of my auntie and how kind you are to share your personal anecdotes. It really gave me a little spark in a week where I just felt like I was getting knocked around by life. At the same time I’m really proud of myself I stepped up the last few days to really help my wife, my kid and this traveler, the son of a friend have a great experience
And although I never watch anime, play video games or read manga I always love having you in my ears :)
Either way, just going with the flow, trying to “let myself off the hook” for not getting everything done… That said I better go grab a basket of laundry Default, and right, medicines and food ha ha
Pardon dictation errors as usual
~~~
Yet another message to another friend: cool, definitely be a post office nearby / the workers are usually so happy when people come to buy stamps as becoming less than less every year / take a moment to pick out choices of stamps / and always suggest sending a ¥100 stamped postcard home to yourself #Momento
Many post offices near historic sites will have a special cancellation that they’ll put on your postcard which makes an extra cool souvenir when you get home. Of course it’s “date/time & location stamped” so almost feels like it’s on an analog block chain ;)
~~~
Last message to another friend: Have a great last day and make sure to get to the airport on time :-) you’ve had an epic 10 days, congratulations, now take that energy home and maintain escape velocity, the world is yours if you rise up to grab it
