Timeline of Events
The arrangement of days and events in this journal may be somewhat imperfect. My original “journal” was not a single object, but many—small and large notebooks that lived on my bedroom floor or that traveled with me, loose sheets of paper, letters, an annotated calendar, the occasional computer file or even email, as well as memories that I failed to write down—or flesh out—until later.
Terminology and Names
For the sake of clarity and simplicity for readers less familiar with the language, I have presented Japanese words throughout in their simplest romanized forms. When introducing unfamiliar terms in Japanese, I’ve tried to integrate the definition in English. This can sometimes lead to redundancy, as in a “kiai shout” in karate—a kiai is a shout.
The usage of Japanese names and honorifics may present additional challenges. The family name is followed by the given name in Japan. But because I was writing in—or, at times, translating into—English, in the few instances in which both first and last names are mentioned I use the Western style of given name followed by the family name.
In Japan, people are generally addressed either by position/rank (“teacher,” “mother,” etc.)—or by family name with an appended honorific (-sensei or -san). A first name or a nickname may be used for children, but a child’s diminutive, -chan or -kun, is often appended to it. A sibling, close friend, or student might be referred to only by his or her given name. When engaging primarily in English, the speaker may or may not drop the honorifics. So how names are expressed in Japan is highly contextualized, and the use (or not) of honorifics throughout this book is a simplified reflection of that.
Finally, some names in this text have been changed.