キスメット [kisumetto] – Some Japanese connections in the internet age

When I visited my sister over the most recent Christmas holiday, she gave me a book, Lost Japan: Last Glimpse of Beautiful Japan, by Alex Kerr. As the title indicates, the book is about traditional Japanese culture. Kerr devotes a chapter or two to restoring a traditional Japanese house that he'd bought in 1973 for $1800.

On April 17 The New York Times had a story about abandoned Japanese houses, many in rural areas, which are quite common in Japan for a variety of reasons. It starts with the story of Jaya Thursfield, who had moved to Japan with his Japanese wife, Chihiro (yes, same name as the girl in Spirited Away). They bought one of these abandoned houses (about 45 minutes from Tokyo) and restored it.

Then, wouldn't you know it, apparently one of YouTube's resident AIs knew I'd read that article and served up the first in a series of videos that Thursfield had made about restoring that house. Just now it presented me with one of Thrusfield's videos entitled, "Last Glimpse of Japan’s Beautiful Old Houses? (ft. Alex Kerr)."

That's right, that Alex Kerr. Thursfield is interviewing Kerr in that house he bought a half century ago.

Bonus: For awhile Kerr worked with Trammel Crow, the father of a Yale classmate of his, Trammel S. Crow. Harlan Crow, Justice Clarence Thomas's friend and benefactor, is a brother to Trammel S., and is chairman of the company created by the elder Trammel Crow (who died in 2009).