The Blog Post on Writing


I seem to always be in a race to catch up on all my blog posts.

I’m taking this to mean that I’m just very busy enjoying my “real” life at the moment…which is a good thing, right? But I want to get these posts sitting in draft finished before I forget everything. And if you know me, you know that all the pictures are in order and ready to go…it’s just the writing that’s waiting for me. There are so many words out there and yet for some reason, at times I have a difficult time putting them together to form sentences. But I am going to plow through this.

So in a twist of irony, I thought I’d start off by diving into this post about writing!

Miwa, who always writes beautiful posts for Cranes and Clovers, kindly invited me to this blog hop about writing. (You can read hers here. She always takes the most amazing photos and I love the way she writes!) I was worried at first because I seriously do not write all that much here, it’s mostly photos. But because I was so excited Miwa chose me, I thought I would give this a try! 😉


What am I writing on or working on?

Well, at the moment I am finishing up my monthly letter to my grandma because she is one of those rare people who doesn’t own a computer, much less an email account. (It takes a while to finish because I end up having to look up every other kanji on my cell phone before I write it down!)

Regarding this blog though, as I mentioned above, I’m trying to find the words to fill in my blog posts that are currently sitting in draft. They are mostly posts on my weekend trip to Nasu and other events in the past month or two, including two weddings, a beer garden, and a birthday.


How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I like to think that each blog is special in its own way.

Am I just saying this because I don’t really know how mine differs from other blogs? Um…yes. I have to be honest here and say that I’m not even sure what genre this blog is. I’d say it’s a journal of my life in photos. Although if I had to think of something, I’d say that a blog written in English by a regular (whatever that means) Japanese female is not as common in the blogging world. Or maybe I just don’t know where to look? What do you think?


Why do I write what I do?

Like many bloggers, it’s a way to remember what I did and how I felt at that moment. It’s a way for me to hold on to the tiny things that fade over time. I think that’s how my writing (especially my diaries when I was younger) has always been.

Without writing things down, I don’t think I would have remembered how anything and everything revolved around getting my ears pierced in grade school (I wrote about it constantly for half a year). Or how confused I was when I came back to Japan as a teenager and first stepped into a Japanese-style bathroom stall (I thought I had accidentally gone into the janitor’s closet).  Or how my world shifted when I started living alone for the first time (I’d never gone a weekend without speaking before).

Or even small things like that moment when I overheard a coworker being asked what he thought 少子化 (sho-shika, meaning declining birthrate) is in English and he answered, “uh…small children?” (In his defense, it kind of makes sense when you look at the kanji.)

So many memories. I guess for me, writing is remembering.


How does my writing process work?

As I said, I am not a writer at all so my process is quite slow. I usually start out by figuring out how I want to end the post. Weirdly having an ending for the post keeps me in line when I write. I tend to go off topic otherwise. I have a mind that wanders, which is probably why it took forever to write my college essays and I’d end up having to cut out half of it. And that is usually what happens with my blog posts, too. I love the “research” bit, aka surfing the internet for information. I learn so much and I end up wanting to share it all.

So most of my writing process is hitting the back-space key. To each his own!



Well…that only took about a month to write! (Sorry so late, Miwa!)

Did any of that make sense? I’m not even sure I answered the questions but I will say that this blog post itself was an interesting process of trying to figure out how and why I write the way that I do. And I am currently patting myself on the back because this is the longest blog post I have ever written in my life. Whew.

As a reward to you for actually reading all that and making it down here…I am happy to let you know that I am tagging the wildly witty woman that is Rurousha, who should be writing a book in my opinion, but is currently happily roaming the backstreets of Tokyo under the summer sun and sharing her discoveries with us on her blog.

Happy writing! x

17 thoughts on “The Blog Post on Writing”

  1. Oh, Kaori, you are so NOT regular.

    I fell in love with your Tokorozawa blog and then your Shinjuku blog …

    Yikes. I've been a groupie for a long time, huh?

    I fell in love with your blogs because they were written in perfect English by a not typical but still very Japanese woman. Does that make sense? That's also why I love reading Miwa, Merry Witch and Sapphire.

    I remain a fan of your blogs, specifically, because you're a barefoot barbarian with the biggest smile ever, and barbarians in Japan have to unite for protection! Whether it's protecting ourselves or protecting others against us is an open question.

    I'm chuffed (British English!) that you've tagged me. I happen to be at home this week after I took a tumble and cracked two ribs – don't laugh, I'mfromAfrica – so I should be able to respond to your invite.

    Happy writing to you, too!

    PS: Also: photos. That's another reason why I follow this blog.

    PPS: Coffee.

    PPPS: Tan! 😀

    PPPPS: OK I'll stop now.

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  2. Thanks for accepting the tag and sharing your writing process! One of the reasons why I love your blog so much is because when I read your words it's like I'm listening to a kindred spirit. (BTW, the first time I walked into a washiki bathroom I was so confused… I ended up sitting down on it and practically falling in. Yikes…and yes, eeew…)

    I'm always excited to see what you've written and am constantly in awe of the way you capture beautiful moments on your camera.

    And thanks for tagging Ru!! I'm heading over to her blog because it seems like she's already written her writing post 😉

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  3. I totally understand how you feel. When writing a blog it is usually the photos that are good to go but the writing part that takes a lot more time and effort. I like to think that I am not a good writer; I just say what I want to say and how I want to say it without thinking about how correct or literate it sounds. So I know your 'struggle', if we can call it that 😉 But I have to say that I didn't notice it from your previous posts at all! And you know what, your photos are too great to be bothered about your writing (no that there is any reason to be bothered at all).
    And as Miwa says, it's the spirit of the posts that counts the most!

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  5. Thank you for your kind words, Ru. I'm chuffed as well! (already in my vocabulary now…hehe) You know I raised both my arms in victory when you said you'd do this blog hop. No one writes like you do and I love that. Cannot wait to read your post on writing! 😀

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  6. Thank you so much, Miwa! I am a huge believer of kindred spirits and I love that I found you in this wide blogsphere (even if you almost did fall intoa washiki toilet! haha)!

    Ru's post is up already!? Wouldn't you know it, it takes me well over a month to write this post and Ru manages to finish it in a day or so…off I go to see for myself! ;D

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  7. Thank you Sacha! It's a relief to know that I am not the only one that struggles with words. I think practice will help the words come out much quicker so I'm going to try to be consistent with my blog posts. I think you have a lovely way of writing, Sacha, it's like hearing you talk through your words! Looking forward to reading many more 😀

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  8. They are one of my favorites, too! I actually had these pictures for a hydrangea post but couldn't figure out what to write so I just added them on to my writing post. Problem solved! ;D

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  10. It's funny how you say you don't write much. You do tend to write a lot but it is more in the comments and communicating with the readers. I tend to write too much. I recently changed my blog writing style and hopefully it will be easier to read with a lot of pictures.

    PS: Love the photos. It is fun to see your perspective.

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  12. Oh my gosh, you are so right! How odd that I never noticed. I guess I have an easier time with interaction than presentation. Wow, you just opened my eyes, Dru! 😀

    I also tend to over write because I want to include a lot of information in my blog posts. Which is why I end up deleting a lot of it. If you go see Sacha's blog (she commented right above you), she has a really neat way of organizing certain information in a bulk at the bottom of her blog post in notes. I need to learn a trick like that, too.

    And now, I'm going to head over to your blog to see your new style of writing!

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  13. I see what you mean by notes. Looks interesting but I'd have to play with it to see if I can get it to match my style. Not easy to change styles.

    My new style is still being worked on. I just shorten the paragraphs a lot and break them up a lot more. Not a huge change. The voice is the same though. Still have a few old posts that are being pushed back all the time but the new style seems to work better for me. MORE PHOTOS! 😉

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  15. Thanks for mentioning my notes here and how you like them Kaori! It was something I didn't put a lot of thought into, it's just what I like to do, but I am really glad that you appreciate it and I hope others do as well. What Dru said is also true, your strong point is your comments to your readers 😀

    I also like the way Dru's blog is very informative, but still with a personal touch. And more photos is always good! 😉

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  17. Kaori: That's good to hear. I'll try to be informative. 🙂

    Sacha: Thanks as well! I love adding more photos but it also makes it a lot harder now. Sometimes I just don't have any photos. 😦 But the challenge now is to take more and more photos. 🙂

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