Table of Contents and Links to Stories/Chapters — The School at the Top of the Hill Daydreaming A Kick in the Seat of the Pants Old Bones and Ghosts The Shrine at the Bottom of the Hill The House On the Canal A Game of Codes Lost in Transit We Build the Berlin Wall The Jizo Guarding the Caves (new links will be added as they are published) If you are enjoying my stories, I’d like to encourage you to sign-up for a Medium membership, for unlimited access to these and a world of wonderful stories by many talented writers. It’s likely much less than you think! Take a look, here: https://bartemanuel.medium.com/membership

Thanks for the story, and really interested in (and waiting to know about) what you and your colleagues are doing with Akiya!! When I first started to read about the akiya "problem," my thought was, "Great! I can go to japan and pick up a second house really cheaply," but I understand many of them are not in great shape and typical programs require new owners to be younger (I'm approaching 65 and 'retirement.)... looking forward to reading your stories.

I have 3-4 full sized bookshelves full of books I started but never finished. I keep thinking "one of these days," then chuckle under my breath, because I know deep inside that it'll never happen.

I actually use cruises to screen places I think I'd like to go. The "daytrip" from the cruise ship gives me a feel and helps me to decide if it is worth a longer visit.

This happens to me every time I've been to visit the land where I grew up (Japan). For a long time, I called it "home," and I refused to acknowledge that maybe it was time to call my current residence "home." But eventually, after living here longer than any other place I've lived, I reluctantly decided it was time. I still do get homesick though, and sometimes imagine that my whole family has disappeared and that I am free to return "home." Sigh...

Hmmm... in my case, the garage is full of clutter because that's where we carry the clutter when we declutter the rest of the house. The house looks nicer than the lawn. The lawn is decent only because my wife has this idea that lawns should be like the ones in your neighborhood. If it were up to me, we'd get rid of the grass and put in rocks and pebbles and some kind of low maintenance ground cover. Lawns are such a waste!! At least we don't water ours or spray it with dangerous chemicals.