Lots of questions has been coming up my mind recently and I am not so sure how to answer them. Life has been going in circles and ups and downs and this year has been quite a strange roller coaster not

Now that fall has arrived and is in full swing everywhere, you can once again see these round, spiky fruits all over the place. Chestnuts come in all sorts of varieties, some more spiky than others. Here

A few days ago, I showed you the first pictures of our radish fields, which are now turning green. Okay, I’ll admit I exaggerated a bit when I called them “fields”—they’re actually just two small plant

It's fall, and especially these days, you can spot a very special insect here in our region. I'm talking about mantises, which you see quite often here in Japan. And now, at this time of year, these insects

It's almost done. Over the past few weeks, many hardworking hands have been busy in the fields across our region, ensuring that this year's rice harvest was brought in. The rice was planted in early May,

Well, you don’t always have to try to impress people with a flood of words. Sometimes less is more, even if others might not see it exactly the same way you do. But that shouldn’t bother you—it can even

Okay, there isn’t much to see yet, but we’ve definitely made a start. Because shortly after we put our plan into action and planted a few radish seeds for the very first time, the first seedlings already

Simply because it was so beautiful, here are three more photos from the lantern festival we attended a while back. At this street festival, thousands of paper lanterns are crafted and decorated, and then

Wouldn't that be nice? Yes, but of course we haven't exactly moved. And even if we had, it certainly wouldn't be to such fancy surroundings. Although, to be honest, it wouldn't look too bad on us. We took

Bei unseren Ausflügen in die Aizu-Region sind wir schon oft kleineren und auch größeren Figuren begegnet, welche das Aussehen von roten Kühen haben. Diese Akabeko genannten Kuhfiguren sind tief in den

Aus aktuellem Anlass muss ich mich mal wieder mit einem Thema beschäftigen, was uns allen wohl nicht ganz neu sein sollte. Manches scheint wohl ein weltweiter Trend zu sein, auf den man aber nicht unbedingt

Was den einen heutzutage der 3. Oktober ist, war für die anderen früher der 7. Oktober. Dass diese beiden Tage so dicht beieinander liegen, mag nur Zufall sein, aber gerade deshalb bleibt einem der letztere

The way you make your bed is the way you sleep! And the way you eat is the way you feel! Well, I’m not entirely sure if you can always put it that way, but I will just leave it at that for now. Because

Der Oktober ist bei mir in den letzten Jahren immer wieder eine Zeit des (Wieder-)anfangs, wobei sich viele der Rituale wiederholen. Das heißt aber nicht, dass man sich komplett daran gewöhnt hat und abgebrüht

Wenn man verreist, stellt sich zuallererst immer die gleiche Frage: Wohin soll es denn diesmal gehen? Und dabei hat man grundsätzlich erst einmal die Wahl zwischen etwas Neuem und etwas bereits Bekannten.

DEUTSCH Even after all these years I’ve been here, Japan still manages to inspire and surprise me. Time and again, even in my immediate surroundings, I discover something new that I hadn’t noticed before

Whenever we’re visiting the German capital, we always make sure to visit the so-called “historic center”—Berlin’s old city center—at least once. There we take a long walk that somehow always leads us past

We really shouldn't neglect our friends and acquaintances. And that's exactly why, just a few days ago, I took another quick detour to say hello to someone I really enjoy seeing. I’m talking about my old

Wer hoch hinaus will, muss unten anfangen. Wie weit unten liegt nicht nur an einem selbst, sondern oft auch an vielen anderen Faktoren. Und meist weiß man am Anfang dann auch noch gar nicht, wie hoch man

Many people think that German forests these days are mostly quiet and peaceful, and that there’s no need to be afraid of wild animals. After all, what could possibly happen? The bears were driven out ages