I wrote another in this series exploring kanji by different radicals. www.nippon.com/en/japan-top...

TIL "cume" is a shortened form of "cumulative" and people are even using it in headlines. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Very much enjoyed Fair by Jen Calleja. A good read on literary translation. prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/fair/

Recently learning about kuku (times tables), where for example: Sanpa nijūshi means 3x8=24 Inichi ga ichi means 1x1=1 Apparently these kinds of odd pronunciations make it easier to say and remember. Here's a list I found online. The name kuku comes from 9x9. www.iwakura.ed.jp/nihongo/sans...

The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture just awarded me the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Prize for my translation of The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama. Thrilled that this rich and beautiful novel may now get the attention it deserves. Looking for a US publisher to buy the North American rights.

Suica penguin is retiring! This article says no decision yet on a replacement, but I'm thinking, maybe Myaku-Myaku. news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a9d...

R.I.P. Nakadai Tatsuya, one of the giant figures in history of Japanese cinema news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6558551

This was an interesting article to translate. Next year the Fire Horse comes round again. (Spoiler: the author doesn't expect a similar phenomenon in 2026.) www.nippon.com/en/japan-top...

My latest piece for Tokyo Review:

Was learning about this owl yesterday. 2021 photo became a 2025 internet meme in Japan. (Yes, I'm not online enough to have picked up on it earlier!) petapixel.com/2021/10/25/p...

Good to hear some positive political news out of the US.

Next up to read. The Japanese book is Shiokara Pass by Miura Ayako.

Sure, "Don't automatically translate 「」 as quotation marks" is basic J-E translation stuff, but when it comes to actually writing in Japanese, I find those square brackets useful for emphasising important words.

Herodotus tells that King Croesus once tested all the oracles. His messengers asked what the king would be doing In 100 days. Only the Oracle at Delphi appeared to be correct: he was making tortoise soup. worksofgenius.org/2025/10/28/t...

Some kind of ball game has stopped on the TV, causing discussion among my colleagues.

Random word of the day: 狩猟（しゅりょう）= hunting Posting in the hope that it will help me to memorise it. It's the kind of combination I find trickiest, as I try to recall if it's しゅりょう or じゅりょう or しゅうりょう or じゅうりょう or しゅりょ or じゅりょ or しゅうりょ or じゅうりょ or even しゅりゅう or しゅろう etc. etc.

How am I only just finding out that these are a thing?! New Mr Poirot and Little Miss Marple books to be published www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Should reading be my only hobby? A thought living in my head at the moment.

Novelty wearing off?

Just correcting "friend chicken" to "fried chicken."

離脱 is giving me flashbacks to Brexit.

One fun kanji fact I like is that the 午 in 午前 (morning) and 午後 (afternoon) means "horse," as the old hour of the horse was around noon. www.nippon.com/en/japan-dat...

I just had to track it down. The Essential Akutagawa on sale in Maruzen, Tokyo. On sale in other places too.

I think it would be more polite if we changed YOLO to YOLOshiku onegaishimasu.

Beer wars heating up.

I admit I haven't read that much Iris Murdoch, but I didn't know she could write this kind of light, breezy comedy. Her debut novel, great fun to read. "Under the Net" by Iris Murdoch

I used to like taking a glance at the most-read stories on NHK news, but this seems to have disappeared with the recent update. news.web.nhk/newsweb

As it comes up in my job from time to time, I'm much more confident about naming members of Japan's imperial family than the British royal family. I made a rare click on a Prince William story, and saw his kids for the first time in a while. Getting quite big.

My dentist gives me a percentage for how much plaque I have, which really feels like the gamification of cleaning your teeth.

The Essential Akutagawa is rolling out around the world. A friend told me he saw a copy in Kinokuniya Singapore.

Twice as long, soft as a song toilet paper.

Next up to read, some Oe Kenzaburo.

This box contains a model of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Although frankly, it looks like a case for body parts. Nobody ever touches it 😐 Too fragile for the overhead bins, we have to purchase an oversized luggage seat. This also meant I had pre-boarding with my spacecraft child!

Program explaining literature (to JHS students?) on NHK now. Here's a scene from Akutagawa's Du Zichun. (Great story, in my new collection of Akutagawa translations.)

There's a Japanese museum called MOA Museum of Art and I wondered if MOA stood for "Museum of Art." Thanks, Japan Guide for clearing up that it actually comes from "Mokichi Okada Association." Although a little disappointing. www.japan-guide.com/e/e6306.html

I learned some interesting stuff translating this article. Like the private "Hearnish" language between Lafcadio Hearn and his wife Koizumi Setsu. www.nippon.com/en/japan-top...

Last Square Day for 91 years! Don’t forget to mark it! #squareday

Happy N American release day to The Essential Akutagawa—Twenty-Two Short Stories by Japan's Master Storyteller (trans Richard Medhurst).

Finally watching some of the athletics. Next up, Japan are in the 4x100m final.

The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin What a great and great big collection of stories this is. And you can get it DRM-free too, which is nice. www.ursulakleguin.com/unreal-real

Morning ice cream. Enjoying this Giant series recently. Today, Creamy Caramel.

Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, says UN inquiry

If you make haiku in English you could be published in one of #Japan's national newspapers. The Mainichi prints an #English #haiku every other day. No financial reward but a definite swank value. #Poetry archives, submission form and FAQs here: mainichi.jp/english/haiku/

Bit of a shake in the morning.

Trying to track when heavy rain will stop really shows the limits of weather forecasts. Feel like I'm reading the runes for whether it will be over in two hours or so. (Although 雨雲レーダー looks promising).

meta ai trying to figure it out

My idea of a good time: 10 books covering 100 years of Japanese short stories (1914-2013).

What a great achievement, presenting In Our Time for 27 years! By far, my favourite radio show, so interested to see who will take on presenting duties next. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Publication day! This was one of the hardest stories I’ve ever translated, both for the language and content. It’s also one of the most important stories I’ve translated. I hope as many people as possible will read it and reflect on the reality of war. #booksky #translation #literarytranslation

Summer 2026