Monthly Archives: December 2014

With Christmas only a few days away and a frenzy of buying gifts and wrapping them harried and unwelcome  or  unnerving to some, it is different in Japan where wrapped gifts for ‘omiyage’ or gifting is an art in itself. … Continue reading →

My parents were immigrants from Okinawa and led a hard life working in the sugar and pineapple plantations  until they struck out on their own to become truck farmers. The latter was independence from the hard-driving plantation supervisors known in … Continue reading →