Author name: manjirosan@gmail.com

The old cabin has plenty of gaps, and every winter mice find their way in. By spring, I can hear […]

In Shinshu, spring doesn’t arrive all at once—it hums its way in. One of the earliest signs is the low,

In Tokyo, hanami, cherry blossom viewing, feels increasingly out of sync with the rhythm it once kept. The pale blossoms

In Shinshu, the long winter begins to loosen its grip sometime in March. Snow retreats in patches, and the distant

Up in the northern reaches of Nagano, where the mountains seem to fold gently around the town of Iiyama, there’s

As I put on the amado storm screens in preparation for winter, I keep discovering the same stubborn little intruders

Winter in Shinshu arrives with a quiet certainty. The rice fields turn pale and dry, the mountains settle into their

Autumn in Shinshu begins close to the ground, where the damp earth softens and mushrooms begin to rise through the

When early summer arrives in Japan, sidewalks in many old neighborhoods turn a mottled purple. The stains come from fallen