Following a very busy collection of weeks, a long-awaited week of travel bridged the third and fourth months of the year.

I caught an early flight to Kyushu and a train ride to Karatsu to start.
A friend, Jon, showed Mary and I a lovely time around his part of the world. He's a potter and has developed many relationships with other artists in the area, which has a long history of ceramic wares. He kindly introduced us to some of his favorite studios and the work of some amazing potters (and on the rare occasion, a potter him/herself), amidst showing us the popular historical sights, catching an onsen or two, and hanging out in his countryside village outside of Karatsu.

An old kiln at the Nakazato studio, now on the thirteenth generation of potters in the family.

Personally, visiting these places was a convergence of a couple worlds. I was moving backwards from work and theories I identified with in MN toward the land, the lifestyles, and the teachers that inspired it. Forms and methods were familiar, not only because I've seen where they have been brought and built upon in the United States, but also because they themselves are individuals in a long line of slow and careful development of techniques and ideas, originating hundreds of years ago in Korea.
I could go on. Let me know if you have questions.


I was lucky enough to then spend some time with a friend from college who is working in Akita, an area in the northwest mountains of the island of Honshu (what I often refer to as "mainland"). After a short stop in Tokyo, where the cherry blossoms were blooming in full and the elephants and panda bears of Ueno Zoo were frolicking in the sun, I took a lengthy and enjoyable shinkansen (bullet train) due north. An immediate sense of comfort and familiarity struck me as I entered the hinterlands, as quickly as my eyes caught the lingering patches of snow on the tree covered mountains and the voice of a child sitting behind me rang "YUKI!". Dan has made a lovely home for himself in the small town of Yuzawa and he makes a mean kimchi nabe to boot. Snow-coverd mountains, deep lapping lakes blue and sulfuric above active calderas, streets lined with well-maintained samurai homes, and a unbelievably tasty au gratin sandwich (seriously!) later and there is still much to be said about the few days we wandered together.

A very large, old tree nestled between the homes and businesses of Yuzawa.

You'll have to wait on most of the Akita photos, though. They're stuck, helplessly imprisoned, in my camera.

More photos from my spring break excursion can be found here.
Updated images of my life in Okinawa are at the end of this album.

Having a two-day weekend is very holiday-like these days, let alone an entire week. My time with friends, on trains, in mountains, beside waterfalls, they are vacuum-packed into intense and quick excursions filled with more that one would think time would allow and I treasure them as additionally amazing moments amidst my everyday work as a teacher which is never quite everyday-ish. I can learn things from my students that I could never learn romping across landmasses, and I do...almost every day. Great things come in big and small packages. Fancy and homely. Shiny and dull. It's not always a matter of going out and finding those things that spark excitement, joy, imagination...life. It's a matter of being aware that they're always there. Perhaps not of the dimensions you expected. Maybe not in those conventionally "beautiful" or "convenient" ways. It's highly possible your sparks are all kinds of scuffed-up. But that doesn't mean they aren't waiting for you. With you.