Unconditional observation

Juno, a comedy about a pregnant high school student who needs to grow herself up as much as the new life inside her, is full of memorable quotes*  including this timeless piece of advice about finding our true love: Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is...

When I’m Seventy-Five

Here is a speech by Dr. Helen Caldicott on Fukushima nuclear disaster and its implication for Taiwan, originally shared by a dear friend of mine who attended the event. It is a fascinating and equally horrifying tale of how the Japanese government’s attempt to...

Acknowledging the differences

I was listening to a friend of mine who talked about how things were about to end with his girlfriend. It was clear that he and she lived in separate worlds from the beginning of their relationship, yet they loved each other dearly and tried to fix things up. It was...

Blue Dawn

Yesterday was a historical turning point for Japan, my passport country. A parliamentary election led to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党 in Japanese) and its coalition take the majority in both the upper and the lower house. For at least the next three...

From Á La Carte to Salad to Soup

The Á La Carte era When I first came to Taiwan more than 30 years ago I was a little kid, trailing my father’s job like a thread of poop dangling along a goldfish. Although my family was located in Kaoshiung, a lovely Southern Taiwan city, I studied in a Japanese...