HAVING just recently spent 5 weeks in Japan, I have to mention my delight in discovering hoshigaki. I came across them my first day and almost every day afterwards, tied together in long strings hung from porch roofs throughout the main island, Honshuu. Looking like beaded curtains of brilliant orange, they are the start of dried Japanese persimmons, which herald December and the pending New Year. 

While Christmas is celebrated by many Japanese families, it's New Year celebration that is the...

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DURING a brief trip to Japan in late November to visit family, actress Sakura Kai (Setsuko Tsuchiya) and I made an even briefer stop at Toei-Kyoto Studios jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) Park and filming lot for a day — https://global.toei-eigamura.com. Needless to say, being actors ourselves, we had a wonderful time transported back to Japan’s Edo period (1600 to 1868 AD) Japan, walking streets we’d seen in various Japanese movies and shows in the taiga (historical) drama genre. Ac...

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READERS sometimes email me at drjanik@gmail.com asking me if, with my wife and I being actors, we regularly take a limo to go somewhere. Well, yes, it’s true Sakura Kai (aka Setsuko Tsuchiya – https://setsukotsuchiya.com) and I, Daniel S. Janik (https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php) are actors as well as authors, but, ummm, sad to burst the limo bubble, but we walk together to work whenever possible, which is most of the time.

First, weight and body tone always come before luxury. The ca...

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IT’S my pleasure to announce that I’ve finally accumulated the third SAG/AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) Union Talent Voucher required to graduate from non-union to union actor. Qualifying to join SAG/AFTRA is an important stepping stone in the life of an actor, whether one chooses to exercise the right or not. For me, it represents yet another step in my acting career.

What it’s supposed to represent is recognized acting experience a...

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IT’S my distinct pleasure to be the first to announce the ascension of a new authority in the world of dance, acting and authoring, Dr. Setsuko Tsuchiya — https://www.setsukotsuchiya.com — having recently reached the end of her multi-year foray into academia with the final acceptance of her dissertation and completion of her PhD in Performing Arts in Ballroom and Latin Dance Performance. As her dance, acting and life partner, I can personally vouch for the difficulties she overcame in h...

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DURING these difficult times of unprecedented change, it’s easy to fall into a kind of blank-like despair. What’s important is to remember that life is the journey, and at least to some extent, we make our journey. One thing of which I like to remind myself during times like these, is that while I may have only one birthday a year to celebrate, I have 363-1/4 Un-Birthdays, all of which deserve celebrating, if only because I’m alive for another day.

But how to celebrate an Un-Birthday? ...

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IT’S been my distinct pleasure to be Daniel S. Janik, actor, with Setsuko Tsuchiya, actress, in “The Rainbow State” of Hawaii. Our acting opportunities have been and remain highly varied. Part of that, I believe, is a consequence of living in Hawaii with its multi-culturality. Being European by descent and my partner Japanese, Hawaii offers us a multitude of cultural experiences both in terms of our professions and our daily life.

For example, we’ve played in Hawaiiwood’s K. Simmon...

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WE in the USA often think of Christmas as “the holidays,” when, I suspect, more people in the world celebrate the New Year holiday. I looked this up on the internet and while I found one site that stated “2 billion” people throughout the world celebrated Christmas, I wasn’t able to find any similar estimate for New Year, so my suspicion remains speculation unless someone reading this has the answer. Sadly, not every question is answerable on the internet, not to mention whether any ...

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FUN going GROCERY SHOPPING! I used to look forward to a quick in and quick out after work with several bags of fresh, tasty groceries for $25 a bag. Yep. Usta.

Went shopping at 6:45 AM this morning to avoid the crowd and maintain social distancing while wearing my obligatory mask. Tried to walk the isles for exercise (grocery walking) but had to do all the shopping in 15 minutes or less, only to wait in long lines for the only one or two cashiers up and awake at this time of the day. They ca...

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Well, not really. It's just that I've been away in Japan for several weeks, and among other things, completing my research for my new taiga-drama-style historically based novel, "The Sword of Kamehameha." It's been several years in research, as 1260's A. D. feudal Japan was a tumultous time about which much is said but little recorded as history. Started in Tokyo (ancient Edo), passed by Kyoto (the center of the ancient imperial court), stopped in Osaka (the center of trade of ancient Japan, ...
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