Just asked myself why 靴下 aren’t called 足上, so that’s probably a good sign that my brain is done for the day.

Vancouver pals! Are you looking for something to do this Friday?? How about a conversation between the amazing Nishi Kanako and her amazing translator Allison Markin Powell? You can even get your book signed!!

This is important! Conundrum Press are amazing and they need some help right now. They have such a vital socially conscious ethos. Check it out and support if you can. And we'll be prioritising some reviews at BF soon too.

A helmet!! They gave my sweet Mini-chan a helmet, so she could step onto the fashion battlefield and defeat all comers! Add in the colourful carp streamers and the sassy and surprising carp wrap draped around her, and this office guidance robot is truly a force to be reckoned with!

Get my classic romp of a translation baby now at a Kinokuniya near you!!

Working on a literary translation project and realizing again how different the worlds of literary and light novel TL are. I love literary TL, but no one is publishing literary novels on the scale of light novels, so you will never get the same trial by fire with literary.

And the sheer volume of words you're forced to translate teaches you so much about good and bad writing, the quirks of the languages themselves (both J and E) and how they map onto each other, reader expectations in both languages, and what makes a story a story.

Light novels are a true translation challenge/teacher. A gazillion volumes and you need to get one out the door every three months. No time for second-guessing yourself or wallowing in self-doubt! Imposter syndrome will have to take a backseat bc you have 300+ pages to translate in 90 days.

A package of コメダ特製小倉あん (English title on package: Komeda's Coffee Original Sweet Bean Paste) on a light wood surface. The package has a picture of those sweet beans being spread over butter on a piece of bread. I will be recreating this and feasting later.

While I was in Tokyo, they opened a new grocery store near my house in Toronto, and for some reason, it stocks Komeda's 小倉あん?? Obviously, I bought some and will be having あんバター for supper.

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Ooh, excellent! Thank you!

Looking for a J-E interpreter for some paid comics industry work in NYC at the end of May/early June! DM me with a link to CV/video clips/etc. if you are such a person available at such a time!

A cutlery enthusiast... This has given me a lot to think about.

Ball and Chain: Minami Q-ta I need to take a second here to stretch my writing muscles. I mean, I’ve been writing this whole time, obviously. My job is to write other people’s stories in English. But writing something that do…

I wrote about it when it first came out, and the most recent volume is one of the many books that had me hauling an extra overweight bag back to Canada.

Very cool to see that this excellent series has been licensed in English! Go pre-order it now!! It is great! Future you will be happy past you gave yourself this present!

Wait. There is a cheese package scalpel??

For all time, until the end of this age, it shall be fresh.

There is no reason for us to suffer like this.

It should not be this hard to open a package of cheese. Japan knows this, and that is why it is the country of my heart.

Shouting "Does Canada know there is a better way?!" to my empty apartment as I try and fail to open a package of cheese.

I would do a J-book exchange! I usually take J-books I'm done with back to Japan and give them to friends there, which is a bit of a process. It'd be nice if I could share them here, too.

This is exactly why I shelled out for the extra suitcase! J-books in Canada are hard to come by.

Thank you! I too hope that I don't suffer too much! And I have no doubt I will be writing about many of these books soon.

Noooooooooo!

Although at least it didn't explode inside the plane? Small blessings??

It is the book nerd struggle! I gave away a bunch of books before I left and yet!!

Pros of being in Canada:
-Big, cosy bed
-Reunited with all my books

Cons:
-Impossibly low water pressure
-Cold, so cold
-Where is my washlet????

Anyway, I and the books are safely back in Toronto now, happy to escape the Tokyo summer, which judging from the extremely summery spring days lately, is going to be painfully scorching.

If you were wondering if I bought so many books in Japan that I had to pay for a whole extra overweight suitcase to haul them all back to Canada, the answer is yes. Yes, I did. Also, a small suitcase that is full of books will make everyone who lifts it exclaim in surprise, "This is really heavy!"

A helmet!! They gave my sweet Mini-chan a helmet, so she could step onto the fashion battlefield and defeat all comers! Add in the colourful carp streamers and the sassy and surprising carp wrap draped around her, and this office guidance robot is truly a force to be reckoned with!

A great thing about being a book nerd is that other book nerds will gravitate toward you (and you to them), and then you can give each other the books you're finished reading and talk about them over delicious food and beverages. It is a pretty good life to live.