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Continue reading →: What December in the Netherlands Did to MeOne month in the Netherlands. Christmas. Family. Love. Tradition. And apparently five to six kilos of additional memories stored directly on my body. It all started harmlessly. Just a cookie with coffee. Just a piece of chocolate after dinner. Just a bit of cheese because well we are in the…
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Continue reading →: A Small Algorithm Reset and a Bigger Question About LonelinessLonely men exist everywhere. Lonely women do too. What differs is not the presence of loneliness, but how societies interpret it and what stories they offer people when life does not unfold as expected. I did not set out to think about this topic. It found me by accident. I…
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Continue reading →: A Christmas Wish From In Between WorldsThis Christmas, I find myself thinking about how divided the world feels. I am writing this while moving between two places that shape me in different ways. My everyday life in Japan and my time here in the Netherlands. Watching the same world from different distances changes how things look.…
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Continue reading →: Writing From AttentionIf you’re trying to write, create, or make sense of something without a clear plan, this might sound familiar. I never set out to write a daily blog. There was no strategy behind it. No content calendar. No long-term plan. I started writing and then I kept writing. One day…
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Continue reading →: I Was Wrong About the Purple CowFor most of my life I believed that Milka was German. Not because I had checked. Not because I had read anything about it. Simply because I grew up with German television. The purple cow. The Alpine meadows. The soft voice. The feeling of comfort. All of it came through…
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Continue reading →: Learning Japanese Through a High Context LensFor most of my life, I learned how to communicate in low context cultures. Switzerland and the Netherlands shaped the way I think, speak, and learn. Clarity mattered. Precision mattered. If something was unclear, you asked. If something was important, you said it directly. Then I moved to Japan. At…
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Continue reading →: The Cost of Being SpoiledThere are experiences that do not add joy. They quietly remove tolerance. My mother and I recently went to a local Asian supermarket in The Hague called Amazing Oriental. Back when I was still living in the Netherlands, my wife and I used to visit this place often. It was…
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Continue reading →: Why Foreigners Are Increasingly Drawn to Rural JapanThere is a growing perception that foreigners are more interested in rural Japan than the Japanese themselves. This idea surfaces in conversations, local observations, and increasingly in tourism data. The reality is more nuanced, but the trend is real. Recent accommodation statistics from Japan’s Tourism Agency show that overnight stays…
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Continue reading →: The value of stopping without quittingWhile I temporarily halted my weekly video productions on both of my YouTube channels, Karl Trail Adventures and Karl FPV Drone Adventures in Japan, I didn’t stop thinking about them. I’m currently visiting the Netherlands, and although there are no new videos going out right now, my mind never really…
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Continue reading →: When “Too Many Foreigners” Feels True but the Numbers Tell a Different StoryLately, something feels different on Japanese social media. Words like “too many foreigners,” “jobs being stolen,” and “crime is increasing” appear more often. Not shouted, but repeated. Not always angry, but tense. Fear has a quiet way of spreading. I do not want to argue with that fear. I want…
This blog is for thoughtful adults who are starting again — in learning, creativity, or life — and want to grow steadily without noise or pressure.
Here you’ll find daily reflections and practical guides shaped by lived experience. The focus is on learning through doing: building consistency, adapting to change, and finding clarity in everyday practice.
The stories and guides here come from real processes — creative experiments, hands-on projects, life in rural Japan, working with nature, and learning new skills step by step. Nothing is rushed. Nothing is polished for performance. The aim is steady progress, honest reflection, and practical insight you can actually use.
If you’re curious about life in Japan, learning new skills at your own pace, or finding a calmer, more intentional way forward, you’re in the right place.
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