Hi, I’m Steven. I’m a writer, former ALT in Japan, and storyteller who explores life through humor, reflection, and curiosity. This blog is where I share personal essays, travel stories, and thoughts on books, language, and the natural world. In these posts you will find long, meandering stories, short reflection pieces, dives into literature and nature, and writings of whim and fancy.
The name Hakumusu comes from a shortening of my last name converted to Japanese. Swan = hakuchou (白鳥) and Son = musuko (息子). I had the realization that I could actually convert my last name to Japanese, and it would be like a real Japanese family name, as they are all basically conjuctions of two things, like 赤星 (Akahoshi, Red Star) or 牛島 (Ushijima, Cow Island). (Both of these are real names of senseis at my schools, who introduced themselves to me in this way. “Call me Red Star.” “I am Cow Island.”) And so, I could be Steven 白鳥息子 (Hakuchoumusuko, Swan Son). I had this epiphany during my 38th self-intro lesson, saying, “So I am, Steven Hakuchoumusuko!” This got surprisingly big laughs from the students and teachers, and became a staple joke in my About Me lesson.
At first this blog was called hakuchoumusuko, but nobody could remember that, and it was terrible for me to tell people that that was the name of the blog, so I at least condensed it down. Now it’s just hakumusu. It’s not English and people still don’t know what I’m saying, but it’s at least shorter and easier to remember. That’s progress.
Some of the topics that are discussed here are my regaling long and entertaining stories about my life, general everyday living things, literature discussions, Japanese talk, and nature tales. These kinds of things. I am currently finishing up a memoir of my time as an ALT in Japan, called Kumamoto Days. It is mostly a compilation (although much improved, or at least it better be, because I’ve spent so much dang time editing it) of writing that I posted on this blog over the course of the 2.5 years that I was an ALT in Kumamoto.
I currently live in Nashville.
Some of my favorite books of all time are Don Quixote, Huckleberry Finn, The Lord of The Rings, Moby Dick, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Anthology of Japanese Literature by Donald Keene, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Dracula, and the Harry Potter series (of course).
Feel free to get in touch.
Email: steveswansonium@gmail.com
HAKUMUSU 