The Japanese have a lot of intriguing expressions that don’t seem to have a translated equivalent in English – a favorite is shinrin-yoku “forest bathing”, meaning walking in the forest for relaxation and improved health, which sounds like some kind of ancient wisdom but is really a recently named and studied phenomenon. One which speaks to me as true, living as I do three houses away from the forest.

Another expression to reach my attention is tsundoku, which means the act of buying books to leave unread, piled up with other unread books. What, there’s actually a word to describe this behavior of mine? Continue reading →