Kevin Kato's Blog (13)

Air Travel III - Thin Atmosphere Reading

People will sometimes ask me how long it takes to fly between Tokyo and New Jersey. My answer usually elicits a contorted expression and a syllable or two of pained commiseration, reactions I personally would reserve for someone in truly insufferable straits – being psychologically unable to miss an episode of …

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on February 16, 2012 at 10:36am — No Comments

Air Travel II - (sk)In-Flight

I like airports, actually. They offer such good post fodder.

I step through the door and come face to face with a half-naked middle-aged man. Well not face to face; he’s turned toward the wall so all I see is his pasty, mealy back. On the shelf in front of him is his open carry-on. He’s slathering on his deodorant. I feel like…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on February 5, 2012 at 10:16pm — No Comments

Air Travel I - Wonder & Woe

Three weeks ago I flew from Newark, New Jersey to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. (If this were a facebook status update I’d simply say ‘EWR-NRT’, assuming such snark has not yet become passé.) It had been a while since I’d flown –six weeks almost – so it took no time for the incongruous wonders of air travel, like the…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on January 13, 2012 at 9:30pm — 1 Comment

What Comes of Domestic Malaise

I was rather taken aback the other day to find out it’s been over two months since my last post – not that anyone else noticed but I still feel better making up excuses for these things. You’d think without a pesky job to have to bugger off to every day I’d have more free time than …

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on November 23, 2011 at 9:56pm — No Comments

Go Find Your Own Top Ten

Every time I turn to my twitter feed there's somebody, or several somebodies, or one hyperactive somebody, tweeting relentlessly trying to outdo all the other somebodies, linking to an article or a blog post centered around a numbered list: Top Ten Mistakes New Tweeters Make.…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on August 6, 2011 at 10:00am — 5 Comments

North - tohoku earthquake part six

I recognized the woman at the door immediately, despite the mask that covered her nose and mouth. I knew her daughter too, as one of my son’s many pre-school friends. ‘Konnichi-wa,’ I said, trying in vain to recall either of their names. The woman offered a slight bow, awkward enough with her daughter on her hip, forget about the underlying circumstances. ‘Kevin-san, domo.’ She handed me a small, heavy plastic bag.

My wife had said she’d be dropping by, with milk formula for our…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on June 8, 2011 at 11:03pm — No Comments

Things, We Didn't Know - tohoku earthquake part five

The subject of the text message was simple: 'Run!'

With this one word all the thoughts I'd fallen asleep to came crashing back into my head. My friend had spent the night thirty miles up the road in Yonezawa. 'We'll go further today, if we can,' he said.

If we can?...

In my head it sounded right out…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on May 21, 2011 at 6:57pm — No Comments

Home, Neighbors, Cake & What's Coming - tohoku earthquake part four

After faking his own death Huckleberry Finn hides in a tree outside a church window, looking in on all the townfolk crying at his funeral. 'I never had any idea so many people cared about old Huck Finn,' he says as the tears well in his eyes.

Of all the scenes of all the movies, all the passages in all the books I've ever…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on May 14, 2011 at 2:29am — 2 Comments

Flights of Fancy

My wife’s wallet is fat with stamp cards. Card for the gas station, card for the camera store, card for a curry shop I don’t think she’s ever even been to. She doesn’t even like curry. I myself don’t have the organizational skills to keep track of a stack of store cards, even if I did possess the inclination to hold onto them or the capacity to remember to use them. My wife hands me a supermarket card as I am heading out the door of the apartment, and by the time I’m walking through the… Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on April 25, 2011 at 10:50pm — No Comments

The Morning After - tohoku earthquake part three

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on April 15, 2011 at 9:10am — 2 Comments

Calm Amid Calamity - tohoku earthquake part two

I walked into the dark front hall of the Shimizu Learning Center. A man in a blue windbreaker approached, moving with an efficiency that told me he was at work though in what capacity I had no idea. What was the situation here, or anywhere else? What had really happened, and what needed to be done? I hadn't seen any damage. A distant siren bled through the hum of a single generator; outside the glass doors a circle of…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on April 4, 2011 at 3:52pm — No Comments

Sarah The Brave

I liken my mind to a tornado: swirling like the dickens and indiscriminate in direction, followed by an eerie silence and scattered debris. It was two weeks ago I came across the fodder for this post – an in-flight magazine article by fellow writer (fellow meaning she writes for magazines and I would like to write for magazines) Sarah Twain (not her real surname). Since then my head has been spinning with images I've been itching to get down on paper before they lose whatever small measure of… Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on April 1, 2011 at 8:50pm — No Comments

Where Fear Lies - tohoku earthquake part one

(Note: My blog posts are usually much more light-hearted; recent events in my backyard have temporarily changed that. Please keep the people of Japan - my adoptive neighbors - in your thoughts. Thank you.)

With a cheap driver I worked the tiny screw on the back of my son's toy microwave oven. He likes to…

Continue

Added by Kevin Kato on April 1, 2011 at 7:28pm — No Comments