Things that Happened in 2025

There goes another year. Here are some things that happened in 2025:

• participated in the Okutama Game Jam 2025
• participated in Famicase with A Dictionary of Modern ℲʚꝾⱵꝲese
• started a company, Cotonoha合同会社
• learned to tie various useful knots
• went to Comike, Comitia, and other doujin events
• went to Nagoya, visiting Meiji Mura and Biwako
• went to Kyoto twice, once for BitSummit and once to break a curse
• made and sold a book of flower photos
• helped run Pixel Art Park
• went to Sabae in Fukui for Megane Fes, also dropping by Toujinbou
• went to Taiwan, visiting Alishan and Taipei
• went to Miura several times
• played through Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Baker Street Irregulars
• helped run Tokyo Indies
• finished the writing on the JANLP book
• got a Switch 2 through legitimate channels
• revisited Tsurugisaki Lighthouse, which I guess makes it a routine, though I missed the 100th anniversary event
• maintained my open source projects: fugashi, cutlet, posuto, etc.
• a chrysalis grew into a moth in my apartment

After getting into photography thoroughly last year, I focused on flower photos this year and released a small book at a doujin event. I still have a lot to learn about flowers, but going out and taking pictures of them is enjoyable, and there are still many things I want to try.

I played many games this year, and hope to play more in 2026. In particular I'd like to mention:

• Motion Rec: A puzzle platformer in a beautiful ruined world, featuring the talents of m7kenji on full display.
• 勇者の選択肢がおかしい: "The Hero's Choices are Ridiculous", an amusing and clever choice-packed VN in RPGMaker.
• The Red House on the third hill of Mataperros: A claymation fable, like a half-remembered RPG from your youth, but not just nostalgia.

This year I hope to actually make some games of my own.

I did a good job of travelling this year, though there were a few trips I never got around to planning properly and let the right time pass me by and I'll need to make up for this year. Of the trips I did take: Meiji Mura is spectactular and I could spend a week there; I am glad to (hopefully) be over my Kyoto curse; and Alishan in Taiwan was as beautiful a forest as I could have hoped for, and the tea and coffee were excellent.

Setting up a company was the major milestone of this year, though it mostly felt like a mountain of paperwork, much of it brought about by the unfortunate tax policies of the United States and the unreasonable burden they place on overseas citizens. You can read about other people who have run into these issues on the Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad blog; my own experience is very similar.

This year the Miki Building in Shibuya was demolished; I am sad to see the city lose one of its stranger monuments. The Mikado and Natsuge Museum arcade in Takadanobaba closing was also unfortunate, though the main Mikado is still going strong. Closer to home, I regret the demolition of the Horikoshi Honetsugi Clinic, a picturesque wooden structure covered in ivy near Keiou University's southern entrance. In happier news, I'm delighted to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Cafe Lion.

I still use deltos every day.

I don't like setting large goals in the new year, but I have a few this time around. Let's hope they go well. Ψ