Author Archives: Doug 陀愚

About Doug 陀愚

A Buddhist, Father and Japanophile / Koreaphile. The total package.

New Perfume Video: “Magic of Love”

For all you Perfume fans (a surprising number of blog readers are), here’s the latest song by Perfume: Magic of Love. Similar to their video for Voice, it includes a lot of cool room-shifts and visual tricks. My daughter loves … Continue reading

Posted in JPop, Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Expressions in Japanese and American Culture

I’ve noticed an interesting thing while watching Japanese TV with my wife. We like to watch certain variety shows together (which are very common in Japan, unlike American TV). And sometimes, they have foreign guests. Either Hollywood actors, or famous … Continue reading

Posted in Japan, Korea, Travel | Leave a comment

Pride

Self-esteem and pride are two challenges in my life. Maybe other readers too. It’s frustrating because even though friends and family tell you that you are a good person, or smart, etc., you still don’t feel like it. I was … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Religion | Leave a comment

Alan Watts Compares Buddhism and Christianity

Something I was watching lately. This is by the famous philosopher Alan Watts, who helped popularize Buddhism (especially Zen) for Western audiences. In this show made in the 1960′s, he talks about the role of religion in traditional society using … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Christianity, Religion, Zen | Leave a comment

AJATT Hall of Fame

I’ve been following the website AllJapaneseAllTheTime.com (AJATT for short) for ideas and inspiration on learning Japanese and Korean. I also follow the site author, Khatzumoto, on Twitter as well. AJATT has been really helpful in keeping me motivated and not … Continue reading

Posted in Japanese, Language | Leave a comment

Dandelions

It is now the month of Satsuki (皐月) in the traditional Japanese calendar and the weather in Seattle has been very comfortable lately,1 so I’ve been taking photos in the yard again. This is in my backyard, just outside the … Continue reading

Posted in Photography, Poetry | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Writer’s Block

Hi all, I’ve been concerned about my struggles to keep up the blog lately, when I finally figured out the problem: I have writer’s block. I have about 8 unfinished posts right now, but I can’t finish them for some … Continue reading

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Beginner Buddhism S2, Lesson 8: Buddhism and Monasticism

Hi all, Busy weekend, but I did find time to post another episode on season 2 of the Beginner Buddhism series on YouTube: This one helps explore the notion of monasticism in Buddhism, what are monks and nuns, etc. Apologies … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Religion, Theravada | Leave a comment

Politeness and Hierarchy

One of the lessons I learned from dating my wife is that in Japanese culture, it’s important to know your place among those around you. The rules are pretty simple, but I also realized that they apply to other cultures, … Continue reading

Posted in Japanese, Korean, Language, Vietnamese | 2 Comments

Intonation and Pitch-Accent

When people learn a new language, they often ignore pronunciation and intonation until it’s too late. That’s what happened with me with Japanese. I started learning Japanese when I was 16. My neighbor had lived there for a while, and … Continue reading

Posted in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Language | 4 Comments