White Tanabata Rabbit

Tanabata, when wishes are written on strips of colored paper (tanzaku) resembling very narrow postcards. Tanabata celebrates the annual attempt for separated weaver Orihime and her cowherd husband Hikoboshi to cross the Milky Way to meet. In simpler times girls wished for better sewing skills and boys might wish for better handwriting. I guess the sewing skills wish was inspired by weaver Orihime but I am wondering how better handwriting might improve the life of cowherds like Hikoboshi." Contemporary thoughtful and odder wishes: "I wish it would never rain on Tanabata so Orihime and Hikoboshi could have more time together.” Or “I wish I had a cat the size of a horse I could ride on.”

Porky and Bess

Porky picks up a package from Bess, an old acquaintance…

Bess: To Narita, Terminal 1, South Wing, Baggage pick up.
Porky: A suitcase disguised as a Totoro?  What’s in it?
Bess: This is a need to know only assignment. I’ll pick it up myself on Sunday.
Porky: Where to this time? 
Bess: Somewhere south. I’ll be gone a month. Usual fee?
Porky: You owe me the usual story. Where you went, whether the mission went well.
Bess: Deal. When I get back. A story told in metaphors.
Porky: And with a bunch of riddles to go with it.
Bess: Was it ever not thus?
____________
Voice-over
Porky delivers packages for clients who give him stories to write about. Bess is an agent who is has a delivery assignment every couple of months to a different country. Her instructions are always hidden in an anime character. They met years ago and now take on jobs not for money, but to time-travel. 

Origami Reading Woman

In a stationery store in a remote Japanese town…

Mariko: Just look at this. Stunning, isn’t it?

Shiho: Ooh, very delicate. What’s it called—‘夜長’? Night’s length? You think it’s a woman reading?

Mariko: Yes! Reading by the soft glow of an oil lamp, lost in her own world. Probably writing wistful poetry too.

Shiho: Or maybe she’s ploughing through Tale of Genji.

Mariko: Exactly! That kind of noble melancholy.

Shiho: You realize she’s made of rice paper, right? Drop her once and she’s confetti?

Mariko: Nonsense. I’ll swaddle her in bubble wrap and she’ll be fine. The shopkeeper said a friend made this. Possibly one of a kind. How can I not make it the crown jewel of my collection?

 

マリコ: これ見て。すごくない？

シホ: おお、すごく繊細。“夜長”って書いてあるね。夜が長い…読書してる女性かも？

マリコ: そうそう！油灯の下で、静かに読書中。たぶん、しっとりとした和歌も詠んでるの。

シホ: それとも源氏物語を読破中かもね。

マリコ: まさにそれよ！貴族的な憂いね。

シホ：…でもさ、この人、和紙でできてるよ？ちょっと揺れただけで紙吹雪よ？」

マリコ: 大丈夫！気泡緩衝材でくるんで、私より無事に移動できるわ。店主さんが言ってたの。知人の作で、たぶん一点物だって。これはコレクションの中心にすべきよ。」

_________

Voice-over
A woman reading into the hours when the world goes quiet. Rendered as origami. Who created this? An artist up a valley who creates stories out of folded paper?

Rainy Season Strategies

Avoiding humidity…
Hiroshi: You sleep like a cat, curled up, 
Hiroko: I nap a lot in the rainy season.
Hiroshi: I don’t sleep. 
Hiroko: And you don’t drink enough water.
Hiroshi: It’s rainy season. I osmose. Take in water through my skin.
Hiroko: How about summer in Hokkaido. Dry air, clean breezes.
Hiroshi: Ah, Hokkaido, I would reinvent myself. Drinking milk instead of water. Staying at a farm, where kind farmers give me miso ramen and a wool sweater.
Hiroko: Sweaters in summer?
Hiroshi: Hokkaido summers are mild. Perfect for light wool. Functional. Cozy. And you will have less need for napping.
Hiroko: But who will take care of the cat?
_________
Voice-over
Hokkaido being further north than Honshu with its hot humid summers, does have a cooler, more temperate climate, and no distinct rainy season. Might be worth trying for a summer. (Nemuri Neko by Hidari Jingorō).

Solitude or Spooks?

On moving from a rundown overgrown house…
Ricardo: Eventually, you stop noticing the mountains because you’ve spent too long staring at them.
Edwin: So you think it dulls one? That solitude becomes confinement?
Ricardo: It’s not solitude—it’s predictability. I came looking for peace, and I found it. But peace turns into stillness, and stillness into a kind of quiet resignation. After a while, you don’t try to reach goals. You settle. And the trees grow over the house. 
Edwin: It looks, er, charming.
Ricardo: Charm doesn’t fix a broken house. You move out and move on.
___________
Voice-over
Ricardo goes on to remark that Lafcadio Hearne understood places like this. The lingering ghosts, the superstitions... It is then that Edwin realizes it is the ghosts that are driving Ricardo out.

Eggplants and Butterflies

Fifty years on…

Harold: Never thought I'd see this place again. Almost no change. Look - the house still stands. Akiya now, huh?
Hiroshi: No one wanted it. The younger people have left. The old ones stayed, but they are fewer every year.
Harold: Same names. Hando. Ikeda. I used to greet them every morning. Eggplants! I used to grow eggplants in this very garden.
Hiroshi: Hando’s grandson plants them every spring. He doesn’t know why—just knew eggplants always grew here.
Harold: This was my place, my rhythm. Wake up, water the garden, drink tea in the quiet. And the butterflies. They still look the same. Generations on.
___________
Voice-over
Hiroshi remarks that there are so few people now. Cities pull them away.

White June Rabbit

WHITE RABBIT

WHITE RABBIT

WHITE RABBIT

It’s June in Japan,

Irises and hydrangeas.

The rainy season.

Spy Family in the Onsen Manga Room

Late back...

Ken: Sorry. I dropped by the hot spring after work - needed a reset.

Louise: Fall asleep in the bath again?

Ken: Ha! No, but I felt so relaxed that I stopped by the manga library and guess what I found - Spy x Family!

Louise: Oh, good one! Did you start from the beginning or just grab a random?

Ken: Yeah. Random. One of the Eden Academy arcs. That family is seriously something else.

Louise: And not just the spy stuff. The way Loid balances saving the world and pretending to be a normal dad is hilarious. And Yor? A gentle wife who also happens to be an assassin? What a mix!

Ken: I think what caught me off guard most was Anya—she’s this cute, innocent-looking kid, but the fact that she’s secretly telepathic and keeps misinterpreting everything Loid and Yor do? Absolute gold.

Louise: And her obsession with peanuts. I think she’s the heart of the story - her reactions make everything twice as funny.

Ken: Yeah, I didn’t expect it to be this quirky. One moment, it’s action-espionage, next, it’s Loid panicking about parent-teacher conferences.

___________

Voice-over
Recommended way to end an onsen soak by flipping pages in a manga. 

A one-color wardrobe

Simple green…

Hiromi: I have to ask what’s with all your clothes being green? You have a desire to be a tree? 
Jiro: Ha! No secret pact, simple strategy. Fewer choices in the morning means less time wasted deciding what to wear. I wake up, pull on my green gear, no hesitation, no second thoughts.
Hiromi: Is picking a shirt color really that stressful? 
Jiro: It’s not about stress—it’s about efficiency. If my wardrobe is just green, there’s no room for unnecessary decisions. 
Hiromi: But doesn’t that get a bit dull? A little variety wouldn’t hurt.
Jiro: Variety means deliberation. Deliberation means wasted time. Green works. Like in shopping. I walk into UNIQLO, I scan for green, grab it, and I’m out before the agony of choosing can set in.
Hiromi: Taking minimalism to the next level. Impressive… and alarming.
Jiro: It's just applied simplicity. Less decision fatigue, more mental energy for things that actually matter.
Hiromi: I feel like you’d wear green even if the only options were neon lime or mossy swamp. 
Jiro: Within reason! I’m not going for any radioactive look.
Hiromi: Imagine if UNIQLO stopped selling green. Wouldn’t that be an existential crisis? 
Jiro: I’d just find a new store—or stockpile enough green to last a lifetime.
Hiromi: If we ever go to a formal event, please don’t tell me you’ll just wear a green suit. 
Jiro: I have limits. I can make exceptions for tuxedos.
____________
Voice-over
So Jiro’s system is based on eliminating unnecessary fashion choices, optimizing shopping efficiency, and avoiding daily wardrobe dilemmas. And green is a soothing color.

Noodles, Noise and a Vulnerable Voice

Argument over ambience…
Fred: Noodles? Kyushu Ramen, big, cheerful place.
Carl: Hmm. Loud? My hearing’s not what it used to be, and I have to raise my voice. How about Midnight Diner? Shinya’s noodles are good.
Fred: But don’t you miss the energy of a buzzing restaurant? 
Carl: Maybe when I was younger. Now, I prefer restaurants where people don’t have to shout just to place an order.
Fred: Okay. But doesn’t you ever feel it gets too quiet in a place like Shinya’s?
Carl: Nope. It’s less stress hearing the person across the table and tasting my food instead of trying to ignore boisterous braying and bellowing.
Fred: Fine. Let’s go to your quiet noodle place. If we find it too quiet, I can hum a tune.
_________
Voice-over
Croakiness creeps into the vocal box with age. Carl could benefit from some voice therapy. Like vocal training exercises such as humming and breathing, treatment like diet and hydration, environmental factors like stress and sleep.

Woody Guthrie

Lyrics that stick…

Tim: Had a line about getting robbed—"Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen."
Pete: Woody Guthrie! “Pretty Boy Floyd.” Sang about justice, struggles of working folks.
Tim: Ah. And trains? Something about “This land…”
Pete: “This Land Is Your Land.” That’s his most famous one, but his songs weren’t just about the land—they were about people, railroad workers, even outlaws.
Tim: So folk music was more than just songs—more like stories?
Pete: Yup. Folk music is storytelling put to melody. Voices of farmers, laborers, wanderers—all carried on a simple tune. No fancy production, no gimmicks—just a person, a voice, and six strings.
_________
Voice-over
Woody inspired a lot of others - Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez. Folk music developed into protest songs. Nostalgia of the 60s.

Sōseki meets Hearne in Kumamoto

A curious symmetry as H departs for Tokyo, S arrives.

Hearne: It is not an easy place to settle. There is a loneliness.

Sōseki: I’ve only just arrived and do not sense desolation.

Hearne: Not desolation, a persistent stillness. As if the mountains brooding. The trees are listening. And the mists veil ghosts.

Sōseki: Well, I come here in search of solitude. Balm for my spirit. I have read your accounts, though I take them with both admiration and caution. But surely not all phantoms are malicious?

Hearne: Not malicious, no—but they are insistent. I once encountered a noodle vendor by the roadside near Suizenji. The hour was late, the fog low. He had no face. And yet he bowed courteously, and vanished.

Sōseki: A faceless vendor? A tale to chill the ink in one's brush. But you have always had eyes to see what others cannot—or will not.

Hearne: Be wary where you walk alone.
Sōseki: And I mean to walk often. These mountains—Aso, Kinpō—they beckon like pages yet unread. Perhaps if I write, it shall be to give voice to the stones, not the spirits.

Hearn: A noble ambition. But the stones have long memories, and they may speak of things you would rather forget. Japan is beautiful, but a beauty layered with sorrow.

Sōseki: What land is not? But I have grown weary of cities and the endless disquiet they bring. Perhaps the sorrow here, being older, is more honest.

Hearne: Honest, yes. But unyielding. Do not expect comfort from it. I found no companions in here—only watchers. The people are courteous, but the silence is not benign.

__________

Voice-over

Sōseki notes that Hearne is a foreigner in Japan, just as Sōseki himself was a foreigner in England which gave him a deep loneliness. They part with mutual respect, Hearne cautioning Sōseki he may wake one morning and find himself not in the year he thought it was, nor in the skin he assumed was his. Sōseki replies that he shall write to anchor himself drawing a distinction between them that Hearne walked through mists; and he, Sōseki will seek stone paths to walk.

White Rabbit, Golden Week

Three white rabbits celebrating Golden Week as samurai, singer and shaman are on a quest to admire azaleas on a mountain hike. May the month of May be merry, barbecue bring briskness to our gait, and fluttering carp herald lashings of luck.

Off hiking a mountain track. The same track that Natsume Sōseki took when he was writing Grass Pillow (草枕 Kusa Makura) in 1906: “Walking up a mountain track, I fell to thinking… Approach everything rationally, and you become harsh. Pole along in the stream of emotions, and you will be swept away by the current. Give free rein to your desires, and you become uncomfortably confined. It is not a very agreeable place to live, this world of ours.”

Persimmons and Coffee

A guest arrives…
Janet: I’ve brought persimmons.
Kei: Astringent or sweet?
Janet: Sweetish. I like them crunchy.
Kei: Mmm. Where did you get them?
Janet: I planted a tree years ago.
Kei: From your tree! Nice.
_________
Voice-over
The persimmons were sliced, a sauce of soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil was poured over, Then sesame seeds sprinkled. Perfect with morning coffee instead of cake.

Can Starlink be Trusted?

Reasoning against a conspiracy…

Ann: This offer of a satellite link directly from my iPhone.  It worries me.
Max: Hmm?
Ann: Isn’t that ring of satellites, what’s it called, Skynet, copying our data and spying on us?
Max: Well. First off, it’s not Skynet. It’s Starlink. Skynet was a movie.
Ann: Same thing, right?
Max: Not same. Starlink is a carrier of signals. Not a malevolent intelligence like Skynet.
Ann: Well, Starlink could still steal our data couldn’t it?
Max: Not if the data is encrypted. And iPhones do that so make sure you set it up right. And update regularly.
Ann: What if I’m in a public WiFi area?
Max: Ah, now that’s where you might be vulnerable. So no shopping, using credit cards or using passwords.
__________
Voice-over
Configure your iPhone to interface with Starlink. Be vigilant but don’t veer into paranoia. Don’t fall for the social media misinformation. But if you’re still concerned go Settings > Cellular > Your Carrier > Satellite (turn off).