Michael McCoy 
Quakes are so common in Japan that I no longer notice the small ones, just like my host family when I woke them in panic at my first, well before dawn on a winter morning in 1987. Monday’s was a long, weak, lateral shaking. As usual my eye was drawn to shelves: checking breakables wouldn’t fall should the temblor strengthen. I never imagined its epicentre was the Sea of Japan coast, a whole 300km away on the idyllic Noto Peninsula. …
“Japan urges its young people to drink more to boost economy” BBC headline What more reliable distraction from our woes than some titillation from Japan. Clive James may no longer be with us, and Chris Tarrant on TV much less these days, but the spirit of Japonisme, birthed when the reclusive nation was forced open by US Navy Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854, is very much alive. So, our tax authorities in Japan, alarmed at falling revenues from a drop …
It’s a common conflict in life, Head vs Heart: ‘appropriate’ vs ‘right.’ The appropriate, or ‘doing things right,’ includes actions or attitudes to deliver immediate physiological needs, like food and shelter. It also meets our security needs – good health, a roof that doesn’t leak, money in the bank. And it satisfies our social needs: love of family and friends; a sense of belonging. ‘Doing the right thing,’ though, is the stuff of astronauts and inventors, philosophers and statesmen, isn’t …
St. Valentine’s Day, 2021, and my house is creaking as it slowly reverts to type – a square wooden box with wooden walls, wooden floors and a wooden staircase – after the trials of last night’s earthquake. 200km from the temblor’s epicentre, knickknacks fell off shelves, ceiling lamps pendulated and pulses raced. At Magnitude 6 for us, it was our strongest quake ever, having missed the big one in March 2011. Rugby World Cup 2019, and our windows were shuttered …
Superstitious? Me? Today is Setsubun, the day before Spring in the old Japanese calendar. Across the archipelago, households mark the end of winter with the tradition of Mamemaki. After dark, and with all the lights switched off, the occupants in unison shout ‘Oni wa soto!’ (Demons stay out!) while throwing dried soya beans out a door or window, and then ‘Fuku wa uchi!’ (Luck stay in!), this time throwing beans around the room. Every room is exorcised, including the smallest. …
