むかし、むかし、あるところに… I lived in Japan for a few years in the late 70s-early 80s. Didn’t think I’d ever use the bit of Japanese I learned. Then my mother-in-law appeared on our doorstep with full blown Alzheimer’s. In her mind she was still living in the 40s. So I bought some of “Clay and Yumi’s” readers and let grandma make fun of my accent. She loved those stories! And she loved to sing old Japanese songs. “Hotaru Koi”, for some reason, never failed to snap her out of a blue funk.

She’s gone now, but we’re still singing those songs. We’re slowly uploading our collection of kana/romaji 楽譜 onto Musescore’s website - all public domain. [search for my avatar ojiwankenobi]

To keep my mind active, I transcribe Netflix USA Japanese shows to make study sheets. These sheets along with the soundtracks combine to make brute force mastery seem like a finite probability. I will try to find a place to make these, too, available for download. Someone might find them useful.

きび団子を一つください❗️