Week 52, 2025 — Hurling towards the end of the year

Solid last week at work, wrapping up client work, lunch with a client that I hadn’t met in person before, office cleaning and evenings out with colleagues. I’d wanted to make progress on personal projects but decided to end the work week and meet friends from high school instead. It was a bit of a reunion moment, and I’m so glad for this reconnect. I’ve missed so much of their lives, and I would like them to be part of mine again. It also gives me an experience of Tokyo (and myself) that I’d let fade away, through many years of prioritizing work and family on these trips to Japan.

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Weaved throughout was lots of family time, with three sisters, two brothers-in-law and a baby niece coming and going while the parents stayed put at home.

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On Saturday I caught an evening train to Yatsugatake for a few days of quiet time and prepare the property for family to spend the new year. Clear blue skies, lots of bright stars at night and fab views of Mt Fuji, the Japan Alps and the Yatsugatake range. My grocery run ended up taking two hours as I chased the views, and the bike battery gave up towards the end. I’ll ride in a different direction tomorrow.

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Japanese books: I read Ryo Asai’s novel “(Ab)Normal Desire” and Kaho Miyake’s “The skill to put words to things you like” and enjoyed both. I started reading Namiko Kubo’s “The science of oshi” a book that looks at stan culture through the lens of projection theory. Miyake’s book is also rooted in “oshi” i.e. stan culture—it’s about how to speak or write about the things you’re a fan of, in a way that lands with other people. She advocates for noticing what you’re noticing (how Gestalt!) and then jotting them down before you expose yourself to other people’s opinions. Oshi culture is important for me to be able to articulate for my UX research work, and I’ll prob pick up a few more books next year.

English books: I read Liann Zhang’s very readable “Julie Chan is Dead” and started leafing through The Fax Club Experiment. Not sure if I’ll finish the latter. I also made a dent in Gabor Mate’s “The Myth of Normal” which I’d picked up a while back.

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I’ve kept up these weeknotes for the full second half of 2025, and the habit been critical for re-building my reading and writing practices. My attention is coming back. A new relationship with discipline is emerging. I’ve had a good year (reflection in progress, aiming to send out a Postcard tomorrow) but these quiet changes might be my favorite parts of 2025.