Quiet Hill

Shizuoka means quiet hill (shizu = quiet and oka = hill) but it was a steep hill to climb every day to the humanities building of the university perched on a hillside. (Unlike Gaby Stanton, I didn't own a car.) None of the U. S. colleges I've taught at have had comparable views. Here, from the top down, is a view of Mt. Fuji from a field higher up the hill from the campus, a view of the Japan Alps to the north from the "lightning" steps halfway to the top, and the view of the Pacific Ocean to the south from my office on the 4th floor.

Tigers and pens

I still use this traditional hard-carved and lacquered bamboo pen holder I bought in Japan. It's shown here in my Shizuoka apartment next to a wood tiger from Indonesia. That tiger sat beside me on both sides of the Pacific Ocean while I wrote AMERICAN FUJI.