Episode
#13 Night owls, morning persons, and the joy of trivial research
- Podcast
- Queers with Accents
- Published
- Jun 18, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2309
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Kinoko is one of my ESL students and the author of I Have Two Partners: Living the Polyamorous Life , a ground-breaking book in Japanese about polyamory, as well as the organizer of Poly Lounge , a series of events for polyamorous and questioning people and allies. We publish archived videos of our lessons as a podcast. Today, our conversation covered the following topics: Kinoko arriving late due to a typhoon, closing her curtains, and her usual routine as a morning person (waking at 6 AM, bed by 11 PM at the latest) – despite enjoying underground night events, she always catches the last train. Masaki as a night person who stays up until 4 or 5 AM, especially when he has no obligations the next day, doing "trivial research" (e.g., 18 hours on German architecture) just for fun. The difference between obligated (legal/contractual) and obliged (personal/moral feeling); Masaki's "mild obligation" of waking up with his boyfriend helps maintain his daily rhythm. Masaki getting a new passport entirely online (using My Number card, paying by credit card, picking it up in five minutes at the city office) – much easier than in the past. Kinoko's younger self as a night person who would stay up reading books all night, but now her age and nature prevent that; staying up late would waste the whole next day. Surprising shared love for kanbun (classical Chinese literature) – Kinoko finds it fun like a foreign language; Masaki hated it in school and didn't know anyone who liked it. Masaki's reading habits: slow reader, buys books and piles them up unread ( tsundoku / book hoarding), but is excited to announce he will publish a book (a compilation of essays) next year. The unique pleasure of paper books: no alerts, no notifications, nothing interrupts the reading…