The numbers are the word count for the piece, to help you gauge how much time they’ll absorb; click on them for access. I’ve split the sixty-odd pieces I thought worth salvaging into seven “chapters”, one apiece for the seven ages of us players.
Mewling and puking
Down the benjo: Postcards from Oizumi 1,765
Down the benjo: In the neighborhood 1,150
Down the benjo: Inspire the next 6,293
Requiem for a railway 15,391
Country house 2,108
Shining morning face
Both sides now 5,866
Cherries, whisky, and the Wall Street of the North 5,891
Lake Toya: The billion-dollar tower of Bubble 5,428
Muroran: The town that Time forgot 3,788
Shiraoi: Where the first arrows of the last war fell 5,211
Lake Shikotsu: Vitriol for the Viking 3,722
Yubari: From the culture of coal to the cult of caramel 7,660
Kushiro: Everyone knows this is nowhere 2,046
Nemuro: The frog chorus sings, “Give ’em back! (please)” 8,322
Monbetsu: “We don’t want your sort around here” 4,499
Sarufutsu: We built this village on bivalve shells 1,597
Teshio, Mashike, and the Rumoi subprefecture: Of palisades and Christ signs 8,847
A Hokkaido postscript: Endless recession 732
Sighing like a furnace
Kinugawa Onsen: You and me and the devil make three 11,382
In praise of…The ghost highway 1,409
In praise of…The airplane to heaven 755
Cape Sata: The southernmost ruins 4,818
Ikeshima: Goodbye to old King Coal 2,198
Omuta: The shopping arcades of a thousand bankruptcies 7,874
Phoenix Seagaia: Look on my works, ye Mighty 2,450
Amakusa: Islands of dread 6,681
Huis ten Bosch: Only Miffy can save us now (part one) 4,194
Huis ten Bosch: Only Miffy can save us now (part two) 3,828
Huis ten Bosch: Only Miffy can save us now (part three) 2,580
A Kyushu postscript: Singing alone 2,754
Seeking the bubble reputation
After the earthquake: A long, hot summer 2,049
After the earthquake: So farewell then, Plutonium kun 1,131
After the earthquake: In the nuclear village 3,862
Holiday in Fukushima: To the zone of exclusion 3,523
Holiday in Fukushima: A tree of ages 827
Holiday in Fukushima: Drift, baby, drift 4,572
In fair round belly
Shimo Nita: When you’re old… (part one) 3,381
Shimo Nita: When you’re old… (part two) 3,544
Japan: How bad is the fiscal mess? 6,413
On the longevity of loaches 2,242
In praise of…The worst hotel of the world 1,936
Kiyosato: High plains drifter (part one) 1,969
Kiyosato: High plains drifter (part two) 1,833
Iida: Roots music 3,558
Iida: A twitch at the curtains 3,541
Season’s greetings 1,280
Turning again toward childish treble
Spiked: Eamonn Fingleton 7,001
The Hashist 4,177
Tokyo through the letterbox 5,071
The end of the line? 1,643
Kashiwazaki Turkish Culture Village and the psychology of nuclear power (part one) 2,659
Kashiwazaki Turkish Culture Village and the psychology of nuclear power (part two) 3,522
Kashiwazaki Turkish Culture Village and the psychology of nuclear power (part three) 2,608
Mere oblivion
In praise of…The Oma-Hakodate ferry 1,266
In praise of…Optimists 5,207
In praise of…The Brown Bear 2,432
Book review: Fresh Currents 2,215
Book review: The Carbon Crunch 1,210
Pastor Niemöller visits the Internet 347
The diffident sandwiches of Uta Schreck 1,347
Spike: No man but a blockhead 10,163
