After watching My Neighbor Totoro, I decided I had to watch Grave of the Fireflies next. I had first heard about it in Japanese class in high school as a very sad movie, but had never gotten around to watching it.¹

「火垂るの墓」, or Grave of the Fireflies, is another Studio Ghibli film—a relatively early one—but not created by Miyazaki Hayao or scored by Joe Hisaishi. So not like any of the other Studio Ghibli movies I’ve seen (all Miyazaki films). However…it was released as a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro, or rather the other way…

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“What? You hadn’t watched My Neighbor Totoro?”

For a long time I’d known that the “my” and the “neighbor” weren’t really proper in the translation of the real title, 「となりのトトロ」. But today I learned that “Totoro” isn’t really even correct—or if it is, it’s only because of the movie’s success. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My Neighbor Totoro¹ is a kids’ movie about two sisters moving into a house in the country with their dad. While exploring, they meet some curious sprites, from the soot-creatures that appear later in Spirited Away to the now world-famous…

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Ah, it feels good not to be writing about Amy Chua. Happy Year of the Rabbit! …or if you’re Vietnamese, Year of the Cat!

Each year I send a nengajō to my high school Japanese teacher (originally it was an assignment, now it’s just for fun). This year I branched out and made copies for a few Japanese-speaking friends as well…including one who actually lives in Japan! (It got there late, but it still got there!) This is what they looked like.

If you didn’t get one, it’s not because I don’t love you; it’s because I draw all of…

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