The Steel Works
I worked as an English conversation teacher at a steel works in Mizushima, Okayama Prefecture on the Inland Sea in Western Japan. It was there that I acquired a fondness for hot metal, showering sparks, and the earth-shuddering power of the rolling mills.
On the Ferry
Uneasily navigating the straits of middle age, I was taking stock of my life and connection to Japan. I was on the ferry from the city of Wakayama on Honshū, the largest of Japan’s four main islands, and Shikoku, the smallest of the main islands.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
October 2018: Felicia and I were in Kamakura, a few days into her first sojourn in Japan. The weather was warm, but not the unbearable heat and humidity of summer in Japan.
Encounter with a Hitchhiker
Sunday morning, August 1, 1971. My parents, my sister, and I were on the A82 between Fort Augustus and Inverness, Scotland. We were in the middle of our big family vacation, the first time any of us had gone anywhere by jet, the first time Victoria and I had used a passport to go overseas, the first time we drove on the left-hand side of the road. I was 12 and Victoria was about to turn 10.