Living With Heat, Paying the Price If you’ve spent a summer in Japan, you already know: it gets hot. But it’s not just the kind of dry, baking heat you find in deserts—it’s humid, sticky, and persistent. In the countryside, I’ve often wrapped a wet
Why I Chose to Install Solar Panels When I first moved out to the edge of the mountains in rural Tottori, electricity was the one thing that still tied me to the grid. Everything else — water, food, heat — I had figured out in
The switch that talks back Walk into a Japanese home on a rainy evening, and you might spot a dim orange glow by the door. That’s no decoration. It’s a pilot switch, quietly letting you know that something’s on—usually a light outside or in a
The Quiet Work Before the First Plank When people talk about flooring, they often jump right to the pretty part — wood tones, finishes, grain patterns. That’s the show. But anyone who’s spent a day on their knees in an empty room with a chalk
When old wood meets new light I bought a house most people wouldn’t touch. Not because I’m reckless, but because I saw something still alive under the dust and cracked siding. Back in 2016, I was working contracts in the mountains of Gifu, and the
The saw that lives on your bench When I set up for a job — whether it’s a backwoods cabin with no electricity or a tidy urban reno — one of the first tools I reach for is my miter saw. It’s the kind of
Coal’s Dusty Secret I’ve worked near power stations, and I’ve seen the piles — dull gray, soft as talc, stretching like dunes behind chain-link fences. That’s fly ash, the fine powder drifting up chimneys when coal is burned for electricity. There’s also bottom ash, which
What It Means to Build for Yourself Building something with your hands changes how you see it. It’s not just a table. It’s a reminder of the tree it came from, the work it took to carry it home, the cold mornings shaping it outside
Why I Switched to Composite Decking The truth about decks and Northwest weather Where I live, the rain doesn’t just fall — it soaks, sits, and slowly eats away at whatever it touches. Over the years, I’ve seen more decks rot from the inside out
Not Just Another Tax Trick There are few moments when paying taxes feels like a handshake. Furusato Nouzei is one of them. It’s part fiscal tool, part cultural gesture. In a country where hometown loyalty runs deep — even if you’ve moved away decades ago
