Snowy rooftops from my classroom window.

Filed under: Asahi-ku, Japan, Kanagawa, Picture of the Week, Weather, Yokohama Tagged: Asahi-ku, Futamatagawa, Kanagawa, snow, Yokohama ]]> http://jaydeejapan.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/2012-picture-of-the-week-352-snow-in-yokohama/feed/ 18 jaydeejapan http://jaydeejapan.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/can-bloggers-be-authors/ http://jaydeejapan.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/can-bloggers-be-authors/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:15:08 +0000 jaydeejapan http://jaydeejapan.wordpress.com/?p=2126 Continue reading →]]> Recently, a well known Japan blogger self-published a book.  You’ve probably heard of him if you pay attention to expat bloggers in Japan.  His blog is Loco in Yokohama, and his name is Baye McNeil (more commonly known as Loco to his readers).  I’ve been a reader of his blog for more than 2 years now, and I’ve always found his writing very engaging.  He tells it like it is, no sugar-coating, and is very honest with his opinions about living in Japan.  His blog posts are sometimes controversial, but very thought-provoking.  But what separates him from most bloggers is his ability to tell stories through his blog.  He is a writer.  That’s the impression I get from his blog.  I highly recommend that you read it!

Now, he’s published his first book, “Hi!  My Name is Loco and I am a Racist” at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  It’s an e-book for now, but a print versi0n will be available.  The title stands out, doesn’t it?  I haven’t bought it yet, as I’m waiting for the print version (I wonder if I could make it to his book signing), but if his book is written as well as his blog, it’s definitely a must read!

The whole thought of publishing has been in my mind for years.  Ever since I was in university, I’ve wanted to write a book.  I’m interested mostly in fiction, but I have been considering writing about my experiences in Japan, focusing on the stereotypes and misconceptions of Japan, while comparing its culture to that of North America.  Loco went with self-publishing, which is incredibly easy to do these days.  For example, Amazon supports self-publishers, and there’s pretty much no expense to the author, other than a small cut of the price of the book.  A popular self-publisher can potentially earn far more than an author who goes through a traditional publisher.  It’s very appealing.  The problem with self-publishing, however, is getting word out about the book.  You have to do all of the advertising yourself.  But with a good network of people online, word can spread quickly.

I’m the kind of person who loves paper books.  I’d love to see any book I publish in print.  However, with the increasing popularity of e-books and the diminishing importance of books in print, bookstores and traditional publishers, it seems that e-books are the way to go in the future.  It’s a strange feeling, though.  I’ve never actually bought an e-book, though I do read some public domain classics on my iPhone.  But one of these days, I’m going to have to get Kindle and buy e-books.  My book closet (yes, a closet) is overflowing with books.  E-books take up no space and are easily portable.  Big advantage, isn’t it?  But I like to hold the book and not worry about the battery dying.

So, yes, I am planning to publish a book sometime in the next 2 or 3 years.  I have an entire story in my head just waiting to be put into words.  It’s been in my head for 13 years, but I never got around to writing it.  I have a lot of planning work done on paper, some of it written back when I was in university.  Soon, the time will come for me to start the book itself.

This narrow path heads away from Zeniarai Benten.

We're coming up to the entrance of Sasuke Inari Shrine.

A bit closer now. Lots of red torii.

And the torii keep going for a long way.

Going up the hill, still more torii.

A small statue at the side of the path.

Yes, still going up!

The shrine is in sight!

Looking back down from the top of the stairs.

One of the guardian fox statues typical of Inari shrines.

Another path leads up to the left. We didn't go that way.

This is the main building of the shrine.

Yes, there are even more steps behind the shrine building!

This is another small shrine behind the main building.

The red maple leaves are still visible here.

And that’s it for the Oshogatsu pictures.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Being oshogatsu, a lot of people were visiting the shrine.  We decided to go there to wash our money for luck in the new year, and also get fortunes.  The shrine is located west of Kamakura station, past the city office and through a tunnel.  There are signs giving directions.

The road to the shrine was busy with people.

Up the hill, we walked toward the entrance of the shrine.

The main entrance of Zeniarai Benten is unique. You have to go through a tunnel.

Once we emerged from the tunnel, a series of torii could be seen.

There were plenty of people there.

That's the main shrine. The cave entrance is near there, as well.

At this time, we went to do what we came for.  We got some baskets to wash our money in, as well as incense sticks and candles.  Then we just had to wait in line.

As we waited in line to wash our money, we could see another row of torii.

This is the basket we had to wash the money in. We also had a candle and incense sticks to light.

Many of the torii are wooden, but some are stone.

The shrine is surrounded by high cliffs on 3 sides. This maple tree still had red leaves, even in early January.

We approached the main shrine to pray, and then light our candles and incense sticks.

After our candles and incense sticks were lit, we went into the cave to wash our money.  We had to pour water through the baskets that held our money.

The money has been washed! That US dollar was from out trip to Canada a year ago, but through the USA.

A look back into the cave, where we washed our money.

There were a few of these pits where incense sticks were burning. People were drying their money with the heat from the fire.

Now that we’ve washed out money, we have to keep them in our wallets and never spend them.  They’re now lucky charms.  We then bought some other charms and omikuji.  When I looked at mine, I saw 大吉!  That means very lucky!  I guess I’m supposed to have a lucky year.

Zeniarai Benten was an interesting experience.  I’ve been there twice before, but never tried washing my money.  This time, I didn’t do any exploring, but instead experienced the shrine.

Next up is the final part of the Oshogatsu series!  You’ll be seeing red!