In this post we will be making our way through Shikoku, the smallest of the four main Japanese islands. Last time we spent three days on Kyushu and boarded a ferry at Usuki, which is exactly what [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Shinkai Makoto’s latest movie Suzume no Tojimari centers on a pair of “closers” who search Japan for open doors that invite calamity into this world. They set off from Suzume’s hometown of Miyazaki [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

It was the start of my second week in Tokyo when I decided I needed to do some cardio. The week before started with me traveling to Japan and continued as I worked from my employer’s offices in Tokyo. [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

If I told you I was going on an anime pilgrimage, you probably would have thought I was planning a trip to Japan. Unfortunately, that sort of adventure requires more than just the six days we got over [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

I figured I should write at least one update this year, so today I’m going to talk about reaching my mid thirties as an anime fan. Long ago, there was an incident that made me think about age [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Welcome to the first installment of Pilgrimage Shorts. Join me as I retread the most memorable anime pilgrimages from my last trip to Japan. I already wrote about my Granbelm pilgrimage, but for the [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Granbelm is not the greatest show ever made, nor is it as picturesque as a Shinkai flick, but it was interesting enough for us to reserve time for a pilgrimage to some of its locations. Scouted by [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Writing from Osaka, after a tiresome day of roaming the Shima peninsula. The highlight of the trip were definitely the Wedded Rocks. I can’t say the same for our second destination, Ise Jingu, the so [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

No matter how much I want to dodge the following conversation, fans will compare this work to Kimi no Na Wa no matter what. I don’t like this approach, because it’s not very fair. Kimi no Na Wa was [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Hasekura Isuna’s works are always a treat. A golden ratio of dabbling in economics, power structures, and faith. So why has it taken me three years after the translation came out to have finally read [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta