So I wrote this piece for a travel writing competition. The task was to describe a local connection in seven hundred words. My essay didn’t

Talking about travel, current affairs and life on the move
So I wrote this piece for a travel writing competition. The task was to describe a local connection in seven hundred words. My essay didn’t
Japanese has a word: shimaguni. It means ‘island nation‘. Unremarkable, you might think. Yet bottled in four syllables is a distillation of a supposed national
When I lived in Japan, I didn’t watch many films. My Japanese never developed to the extent that I could really understand films without subtitles,
It is late October 2019; the trees along either bank of the Motoyasu are starting to turn pale orange and yellow and drop leaves into
When we’re asked what we remember about a place or time in our lives, we aren’t always honest. The truth is that what sticks with
I liked Korea. It wasn’t just the rich, easily accessible street food, or the strong coffee. It wasn’t just the suprising boisterousness of daily life-