From improvisation techniques to method acting, Naoko reflects on the past year after celebrating another birthday. How do we intentionally live every day so the past doesn't go by in a blur? We talk about community building, respect for teachers, and nurturers. The final question in this episode is "A year from now, what will you wish you had done today?" Listen to hear what Naoness has to say!

March Madness, weathering through Cali blackouts, cherry blossoms, and toxic work cultures. As always, Naoness spans many topics to maintain a healthy work-life balance. For every Naoness episode, we have consistently talked about belonging and inclusion; this is no exception. We end with Naoko's obsession with vanilla cream & cakes and pan out to fermented foods.

We welcome back special guest, Sahira, from Episode 19 almost exactly a year ago, to share our reviews about her recommended film viewing of Jonah Hill's "Stutz." We love the simple visual model of therapy tools that Jonah extracts from his therapist, leading psychiatrist, Phil Stutz.  Part love story of their relationship, part useful and practical tools to bring to your everyday - don't miss!  

We open our first New Year episode to share One word we'd like to focus on intentionally this year. Naoness also honors MLK day 2023 with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s open letter, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," written in August 1963, after he was imprisoned as a participant in a nonviolent demonstration.  69 years later, what have we learned from America's landscape, and as women of color, what is our part in living through the continued inequities in our society?  We have the moral responsibility to take a "strong, persistent, and determined action" when injustices occur because "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." We always pause to talk about food and connections.  Naoko celebrates her daughter's birthday and learn which family has a unique word for leftovers.

Final recording for 2022!  We have so much to celebrate with our 38th episode to date. Thank you to our listeners, the "Adventurers" that you are!  Spotify shares with us that you like to venture out into the unknown, searching for fresher podcasts and gems yet to be found. Yaas!  That's us—the hidden gem of Naoko x Naoko's 35-year friendship.  We open up the chat with the Japanese culture of ohaka mairi and how Japan transitions from Christmas festivities to families coming together and eating soba or long buckwheat noodles for longevity on New Year's Eve.  We pivot to ask ourselves, inspired by Brené Brown, "What is a piece of advice that’s either so good you need to share it or so shitty you need to warn people?”  Truth is also hard to tell and we discuss what it means to bring our authentic selves to work.  Happy New Year 2023!

The Morning: A happier new year (NY Times)

Adam Grant's post: "Quitting your job isn't being disloyal to your boss. Sometimes it's the only way to stay loyal to yourself. If work threatens your well-being, leaving is an act of self-preservation. If work violates your values, quitting is an expression of integrity."

C&C Music Factory, Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

Toshikoshi soba to celebrate New Year's, a Japanese tradition

More on the Japanese word chotto (ちょっと)

Feeling the changing seasons—whether it's through the climate, our relationships, or our values. We share how a painful end to something important in our lives can be used to manifest finer-tuned values, purpose, and meaning, so we can be internally stronger to make the best decisions we can moving forward.  What would we tell our younger selves about relationships? What would we say to our daughters as mothers?  We always end on a note of comfort food—it's the season of soups that nurture our soul and bodies.

All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks discusses aspects of love in modern society with a critical lens and focus on justice

Chinese Soup Dumplings aka xiaolongbao (小笼包)

Enoki Mushrooms with Seven Japanese Spices by Kuze Fuku & Sons

WARNING: We audio test a keychain with an alarm (130dB decibels) at minute 19 for 3 seconds for those who are sensitive to high decibel noise.

We start this episode with our love of lox and bagels, then pivot to staying alert with safety gadgets on the market. Naoness shares a recent journey of job searching, sharing pivotal moments in our life that led to our careers and dreams we had as children.

What Makes a New York Bagel?

Somebody Feed Phil - New York episode - Peter Luger

Miso Cod (Black Cod with Miso) 銀だらの西京焼き by Just One Cookbook

She's Birdie

The Best Personal Safety Devices, Apps, and Alarms

Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance by Edgar Villanueva

Stanford’s IDEAL initiative makes substantial progress toward goals

Stanford | Giving | Support inclusion, equity, and access for all

Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers by Kabir Sehgal

Mo (Series on Netflix)

Crisp air, apples and pumpkins are more pronounced in WA state vs. Northern California and certainly Naoness is going through seasonal changes as Naoko embarks on a new job, and another kid is dropped off at college.  Why is it an embarrassment to show our deep emotions in public and why is crying in public a sign of weakness?  Join us as we explore these emotions and end on a note of hummus.  

34 episodes, 1,000+ plays later, we are still here, recording organic conversations of COMMUNITY, FAMILY, HEALING, WORK, IDENTITY, CULTURE, and FOOD THOUGHTS.  Thank you to our steady listeners who track each episode and Welcome, if this is the first episode that you're tuning and listening to.  With gratitude, Naoko x Naoko

A rare morning recording of Naoness begins with gratitude -women empowering women and inspiring each other.  We expand on ALOK (from ep. 31 & 32) addressing in an ACLU podcast conversation that "creative self-expression is foundational to being alive and not some luxury." Naoko x Naoko aspire to continue to explore a culture of dissent - which is cultivating an environment where our community has the ability to have a thoughtful disagreement to find out what's true. Don't miss our rant on our complex relationship with our given name, NAOKO too! We finish our conversation with COMFORT FOOD when under the weather and Burmese Tea leaf salad?!