Articles With an Audio Overview

Web Development / AI (Claude) 2026-09-17

Tidying a Cluttered Homepage — A Day of Subtraction with Claude

I spent a day tidying a homepage that had become a maze, working alongside AI. From six tabs to why I stopped

About 5 min. audio overview

Web Development / AI (Claude) 2026-09-13

The Day Anthropic's Own Founder Called for a Pause: A 66-Year-Old's Reflection on Learning Alongside Claude

Prompted by the news that Anthropic's CEO called on the industry to slow the pace of frontier AI development,

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-12

What "Life's Gift" Taught Me — The Day I Stopped Wishing for My Youth Back

An essay comparing how Masashi Sada's song "Life's Gift — There's Nothing Else I Wish For" sounded in my twent

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-11

What "Jidai" (Time) Taught Me — From a Twenties That Believed in Cycles, to Sixty-Six Now

An essay comparing how Miyuki Nakajima's song "Jidai" (Time) sounded in my twenties, when I had made a major d

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-10

What "woh woh" Taught Me — From My Twenties to My Seventies-in-Waiting

An essay comparing how Kazumasa Oda's song "woh woh" sounded in my twenties, when I had just left medical scho

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-08

In a Quiet Bond: Queen's "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" and My 66 Years

An essay on Queen's "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" and the quiet bond of a life split between Japan a

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-08

Letting the Current Carry Me: Hibari Misora's "Like the Flow of a River" and My 66 Years

An essay on Hibari Misora's "Kawa no Nagare no Yoni" ("Like the Flow of a River") and what it means to accept

About 5 min. audio overview

AI (Gemini) 2026-09-07

Even AI Gets It Wrong: Gemini and the Post Office That No Longer Issues IDPs

A story of asking Gemini how to get an International Driving Permit (IDP), being sent to post offices that had

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-05

Only Walking Makes the Road ― Joan Manuel Serrat's "Cantares" and My Sixty-Six Years

When I left medical school in my twenties, I thought I had lost the road. Hearing Machado's line again through

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-03

Even the Regrets, Part of My Own Road: Frank Sinatra's "My Way" and My 66 Years

An essay comparing how Frank Sinatra's song "My Way" sounded in my forties, amid the ups and downs of running

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-02

Sunlight, Bright and Gentle: Kei Ogura's "Ai Sansan" and My 66 Years

An essay comparing how Kei Ogura's song "Ai Sansan" sounded in my twenties, when I had strayed far from the pa

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-02

What "When I'm Sixty-Four" Taught Me — The Age of 64 I Couldn't Imagine in My Twenties

An essay comparing how the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" sounded when I moved to London in my twenties, and h

About 5 min. audio overview

Looking Out at the World · Power Game 2026-09-02

Trump's "Total Defeat"? What a US-Iran Deal Taught Me About Handling Information in Retirement

(August 2026 issue, Part 1, ④) Reflections on a conversation about the June US-Iran ceasefire memorandum, called "Trump's total defeat" — and

About 5 min. audio overview

Songs of a Lifetime 2026-09-01

What "A Door of Life" Taught Me — A Joy in Aging My Twenties Never Knew

An essay comparing how Mariya Takeuchi's song "Jinsei no Tobira" (A Door of Life) sounded in my twenties, when

About 5 min. audio overview

Looking Out at the World · Power Game 2026-08-30

International Relations as a Mirror for Human Relationships — What Three Conversations Taught Me About Money and Peace of Mind in Retirement

(August 2026 issue, Part 1, ①②③) A wrap-up of three conversations with Yoshinori Kitano (on India, the autocratic three, and the Putin scenario

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Money & Freedom 2026-08-30

What "Getting On Happily and Skillfully with Money" Taught Me About Letting Go of Money Worries

Reading Kobayashi Seikan's Getting On Happily and Skillfully with Money at 66, and the practices it led me to

About 5 min. audio overview

Looking Out at the World · Power Game 2026-08-29

If Putin's Grip Loosens — A "Scenario" of a World Reshaped by Drone Warfare

(August 2026 issue, Part 1, ③) Thoughts on a near-future hypothetical scenario about drone warfare reshaping the Russia-Ukraine conflict and

About 5 min. audio overview

UK Life / Money & Freedom 2026-08-29

A Story Told by a Tiny Strawberry: Tiptree's "Little Scarlet" and a Rich Retirement, English Style

An essay on Tiptree's (Wilkin & Sons) Little Scarlet jam — the only farm in the world growing this strawberry,

About 5 min. audio overview

UK Life / DIY 2026-08-29

The Day the "Window That Never Opens" Finally Opened — A Small Adventure in Japanese and British Home Repair

A memoir of finally repairing an eight-year stuck double-glazed window with a local British specialist — explo

About 5 min. audio overview

Looking Out at the World · Power Game 2026-08-28

Cracks Among the Autocratic Three — Letting Go of the "Monolithic Bloc" Idea

(August 2026 issue, Part 1, ②) Thoughts on a conversation unpacking the internal rivalry within the China-Russia-North Korea "autocratic bloc

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-08-28

What "On Death and Dying" Taught Me About Meeting Mortality Quietly at 66

Reading Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's On Death and Dying at 66, and the practices it led me to — noticing the uncons

About 5 min. audio overview

Looking Out at the World · Power Game 2026-08-27

Sinking Giants, Rising India — What a Diplomatic Report Taught Me About Retirement

(August 2026 issue, Part 1, ①) Thoughts sparked by a conversation on PM Takaichi's visit to India: sinking US/China/Russia influence, rising

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-08-26

What a Japanese Scholar's Book on Enjoying Life After 60 Taught Me About Training Memory and Words

Reading Shoichi Watanabe's book on enjoying life after 60, written when he was 81, and the practices it led me

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-08-25

What "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story of Life for All Ages" Taught Me About Living With Change After 60

Reading Leo Buscaglia's The Fall of Freddie the Leaf at 66, and the practices it led me to — accepting that no

About 5 min. audio overview

Web Development / AI (Claude) 2026-08-24

Rejected Three Times by AdSense: How I Finally Got Approved, with an AI Beside Me

A record of being rejected three times by Google AdSense, then working through the causes with AI until approv

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-08-23

What "Aequanimitas" Taught Me About Living in Day-Tight Compartments

A personal record of what I actually started doing after reading four addresses from William Osler's Aequanimi

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-08-22

What "What Is History?" Taught Me About Becoming My Own Historian

Reading E. H. Carr's What Is History? and the practices it led me to as I try to become my own historian — wri

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-08-21

What Alain's "On Happiness" Taught Me About Building My Own Happiness at 66

Reading Alain's On Happiness at 66, and the practices it led me to — treating mood as a matter of the body and

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / UK Life 2026-08-17

I Turned Thirty-Five Years in Britain Into a Novel

At 29 I moved to London and spent 35 years in sushi — apprentice, factory manager, global consultant, then a s

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Nourish the Body 2026-07-27

I Wrote a Book About My Cataract Surgery — "Cataract Surgery-A Memoir: Double cataract surgery in Osaka, Japan"

A year around the cataract surgery I had on both eyes at 66, now published on Kindle as Cataract Surgery-A Mem

About 5 min. audio overview

UK Life / Travel 2026-07-23

From "Diddly Squat" to a Hilltop Brewery: A Cotswolds Day Drive with a Friend from Japan

A day trip through the Cotswolds with a friend from Japan — Diddly Squat Farm Shop, made famous by Clarkson's

About 5 min. audio overview

Reading Notes / Calm the Mind 2026-07-14

What "From East to West" Taught Me About Receiving Each Day With Empty Hands

Reading Hiromu Murai's From East to West at 66, and the small practices it led me to — trusting what holds me

About 5 min. audio overview

Calm the Mind 2024-07-12

How to Most Effectively Relieve Anxiety

Beyond the usual advice to write your worries down, this is a personal look at anxiety through East Asian medi

About 5 min. audio overview