Festival Edition

2 August 2026

I had fun at the Powell Street Festival yesterday. I suppose I’ll do a comic about it tomorrow. I got to see some relatives and met some people I’ve known only online in real life for the first time. Felt invigorating.

Monday

This big fat book is a history of a magazine and store set up in Los Angeles by another Nakamura (no relation). It seems that Giant Robot still lives online. They were highlighting Asian and Asian American culture before it became as widespread as nowadays back when print was still a thing.

Tuesday

I did a little reading from a short story I contributed to an anthology. I was part of the Mata Ashita Japanese Canadian Writing Group that presented as part of the Powell Street Festival. I hadn’t attended in person since the pandemic began, though it was one of the reasons I decided to live in Vancouver. I took off my mask to read. My bit was only five minutes, so I survived alright. They even had a green room with a washroom at the theatre. The Firehall Arts Centre is located right around the corner from where my Mom grew up. I was able to get back home before the dog had any issues.

Wednesday

I recently decided I would try writing a haiku first thing in the morning, while sitting on the toilet. I have been reading someone else commenting on the pacing of four-panel comics and haiku. That’s supposed to be the dog in the last panel.

Thursday

I had seen something before about how it can actually be more effective to study different subjects in an interleaved way. I don’t actually have to study any more, but I do find I like this approach. Reading two pages seems feasible and you tend to remember the beginnings and ends of things. And although it takes effort to remember where you were, I think that might help as well. Which is probably just a rationalization, but I think it’s kind of fun. I take notes on interesting bits.

Friday

I had eaten a berry from a bramble taking over an abandoned building down the alley. It seems that if you are an invasive species, but produce berries that people like, they are less likely to cut you down.

Saturday

For better and worse, Japanese society seems rather homogeneous. The Tokyo Salad Bowl TV series deals with issues associated with diversity in Tokyo. A salad bowl is how they describe the different people living together, yet separately, perhaps closer to the Canadian metaphor of the mosaic than the American metaphor of a melting pot. I have heard of Japanese getting a little annoyed with all the tourists visiting lately and this show deals with some of the prejudices against being different, in appearance, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

Sunday

This is an episode from Not Made in Japan, my graphic memoir in progress about living in southern Japan during the 1980s when I was in my twenties. Since I am doing these week by week, even though I have a rough outline, I realize I might need to change the order. And the comics course I’m taking is making me realize that maybe I should redo the whole thing. We’ll see how energetic I feel about it.

That was my week. I hope you had a good one, with a better one to come.