Editor and Researcher
Noriji Otani was born in Tokyo and brought up in Kawasaki City, which is in Kanagawa Prefecture. He now lives in Yokohama with his wife, Michie, and their son Toshiki. Noriji went to high school in Tokyo and attended the University of Hawaii, where he majored in hotel management and tourism. But he didn’t go into that field.
He taught Japanese, history, geography, and English in a cram school (塾, じゅく) for 35 years. He is now retired. He likes gardening, playing tennis and golf, and traveling by train, both in Japan and overseas.
His favorite kanji is 永（エイ, なが・い）because this kanji includes all the basic elements of calligraphy. Moreover, he practiced this kanji many, many, many times when he started learning 習字 (しゅうじ: penmanship) and 書道 (しょどう: calligraphy) in the first grade.
