As I write my last post of the year, I look back at how things progressed as a whole. Being the year of the snake, there was many mentions of falling upon fortune, or resetting oneself to become better. On a large scale, there was all sorts of money talk going on worldwide, especially politically. With so much international conflicts being televised, not all of it was on a positive level.

On my end, much adjustments needed to be made. Relocating to a new state, I had to learn a new lifestyle; instead of the comfort of public transport and availability to almost all types of stores in a walking distance found in NYC, I now have to own a car and drive to most places in Michigan. In all honesty, much of this is a positive, and in it’s own way a form of growth for me. Leaving the fast paced life of the big city for a more relaxed environment opening up more time for focusing on my hobbies and research. As I get my life back on track, I’m feeling reinvigorated to write articles for my blog on a regular basis. Will continue to offer a variety of topics from Japan, some on traditional practices, celebrations, unique historical figures, and even on well known dishes!

Should have the new website up and running as well. Focus will shift a bit, for it will be less on promoting Chikushin Group as a martial arts group, but more of site pertaining to researching Japanese documents and offering translations on them. Budō training will most likely continue to be covered on this blog, as well as Facebook and Instagram.

Signing off as 2025 comes to a close in a few hours. Looking forward to “charging” ahead in 2026!