Written on September 20, 1988 [Permalink]

Sometime in September or October, I had a little day of decision with myself. The toy business, print-making, and the English teaching were all lined up and competing for attention. There was no question about the teaching. It had to stay, to supply our income, but waffling between the other two was resulting in nothing being done with either. Michiyo's growing demands for re-writing were not helping. Week after week was passing with nothing being accomplished in any field but teaching and translating.

I made the decision to shelve the toy business completely, and to set aside Monday each week as the 'hanga' day. No English or translation were to be allowed, only work on the print.

It worked! By the middle of December, the key block was finished. I kept track of the carving time each day, for a total of 84.5 hours. After the English classes broke up for the New Year break, I finished the colour blocks and tried some printing.