About Us
About the Site Creator
My name is Jim Nishida-Adams. I am an American who discovered Japan little by little starting with TV shows and movies of the 1960s and 70s. My first trip to Japan was in 1994 followed by a year of college, English teaching jobs, and finally settling down here with my Japanese wife. Like most Japanese, the members of my Japanese family speak little or no English. I had to use my poor Japanese to be a part of their world. While I have learned a lot over the years, I always struggle to learn and make sense of Japan. By sharing this site with you, I hope we can learn together.
A little about translation
Most of the people that appear in the videos will be telling their stories in Japanese, so a translator is needed. Unless I find someone better, that will have to be me. Translation is a tricky affair because language itself is tricky. Even in our native language, telling someone else’s story requires us to make sense of it through our own perspective first. When we translate that story into a different language, all we can do is try our best to be true to the original words. I promise to do my best.