How do I know if my story is worth writing? This is a question I imagine must often pop into the minds of writers considering a memoir, be it about their career, their travels, or anything at all. What makes me stand out? What makes my story interesting? Well, as the only gaijin in the …
Adventurers, explorers, travellers — whatever you wish to call them — have been documenting their discoveries and experiences for hundreds of years. Setting sail for uncharted waters and touching down on exotic lands, bold and brave men and women have explored every corner of the map and recorded what they’ve learned for us to enjoy …
It’s difficult to know where to start with talking about trans rights, gender dysphoria, and the politics behind transgender stories, other than to simply say that trans people need all the help and support that they can get. That’s where transgender books and trans authors come in. Understanding your own dysphoria and deciding on the …
At the age of 25, after the events of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution in China, Jung Chang moved to London. There, she wrote a biography which told an epic story of herself, her mother, and her grandmother. Three women of 20th century revolutionary China. That book, Wild Swans, was a global sensation and a book …
I love linguistics. I’ve studied (though never become fluent in) Japanese, Chinese, Korea, French, and German. I’m one of those people who becomes fascinated with ‘untranslatable’ words, etymology, and the evolution of languages. I love accents, dialects, and how language can be so malleable and ever in flux. I’ve had arguments with people who get …
How do you know if your story is worth telling? This is something I’ve always mulled over when it comes to memoirs. We each of us have lived a life that’s unique and, given the right skills of execution, couldn’t we all have a story worth telling? It’s a big question, maybe, but when you’ve …
Grass is a starkly beautiful graphic novel which reveals the true-life story of a Korean ‘comfort woman’ during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. The occupation ended after the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, following the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Grass is a timely and gravely …
What can the Dark Souls video game franchise really teach us about our purpose in life? How can it help those of us struggling with depression, when it presents to us a world so dark and cold? Well, combining Dark Souls with the concept of finding your ikigai may just help dissipate the fog of depression, fear, and anxiety that …
It’s hard to say what’s most important in the world today, especially in terms of knowledge. Proving to anti-vaxxers that vaccines do, in fact, save lives, or proving to the US government that global warming is a real and present threat to life. But something that needs to be done now in order to promote …
If there’s one thing we take for granted, it’s ourselves. We might be thankful for our jobs, our friends and loved ones, our money, even our lucky stars. But, even if we’re not as tall, thin, or beautiful as we’d like to be, we usually feel secure in the idea of taking our ‘selves’ for …