All posts by Karen Pond

  • Take me to the Yakyu!

    Japanese culture isn't all ikebana and macha making. Like every other import, the Japanese have taken baseball and made it their own. Star pitcher, Karen Pond, explains how to blend in with the crowd.

    • Posted April 4, 2017
    • 0
  • The rice cooker convert

    I looked at it. “So, what do you think?” my husband asked.  (To be honest, when he had called earlier and told me he was bringing home a “surprise,” I wasn’t really thinking cookware. I was thinking...

    • Posted November 5, 2015
    • 0
  • The Tokyo Great Cycling Tour’s “amazing one-day” bike tour delivers a fun and memorable spin on city touring

    With a few years of Tokyo sightseeing under my belt, and perhaps, most importantly, with three energetic teenage sons, I was in the need for some new, active, and family-friendly adventures in Tokyo. As always, I first...

    • Posted October 7, 2015
    • 0
  • Note from the teacher

    “Swimming cap?” I asked my first grade son. “Swimming cap,” he said as he handed me a note from his teacher. “I need to have a cap for swimming class. By Friday.” Friday? Wait a minute. That’s...

    • Posted September 10, 2014
    • 0
  • The Test

    You can do it, I said to myself. You can do it. I bowed. He bowed. I looked around nervously. He looked around nervously. I gathered up my courage, cleared my throat and said in Japanese, “Konnichiwa.”...

    • Posted May 4, 2009
    • 0
  • Kitchen confidential

    “Honey, what are you doing?” my husband asked me. “Um,” I said. “I’m just texting….” “You took a picture of that Japanese cereal box, didn’t you?” OK. I admit it. I’m addicted to taking pictures of grocery...

    • Posted February 27, 2009
    • 0
  • Miss Pronunciation

    Yes, I’m on the lookout for a new hairdresser in Tokyo. This newest mission has nothing to do with my hair. It has absolutely everything to do with my pronunciation (mispronunciation) of Japanese words. I admit it....

    • Posted December 25, 2008
    • 0
  • Off the Map

    “What did she say?” my friend Muffin* asked me in a slightly panicked voice. (*Name changed to protect the newly licensed.) “She said, ‘You have arrived at your destination,’ ” I hesitantly repeated. We slowly looked around....

    • Posted March 6, 2008
    • 0