iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It’s two years since I was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. Photo is of an altogether more pleasant anniversary (36 years of marriage to Keiko) last week. That I was able to celebrate it is thanks to the efforts of the doctors and nurses at Christchurch Hospital’s Oncology Service.

A man and woman sitting at a table in a restaurant looking at the camera as they hold up wine glasses

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Just in time for the election. A new Nicky Hager book!🍿

You are invited to the launch of a new book by
NICKY HAGER
Tuesday, 22 September 2026, 6 pm
Unity Books | 57 Willis Street, Te Aro
No interviews or copies of the book will be available until the launch.
Please help spread the word.

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Yesterday we drove to Tai Tapu for lunch and then to Kurashiki Garden at Halswell Quarry Park to see the cherry blossoms. The garden is named after Christchurch’s city in Japan.

Two men modeling Uniqlo clothing in front of a church tower

A large tree with yellow leaves in front of an old stone building with an orange roof. The sky is very blue.

People viewing cherry blossoms in a park

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Currently reading NIGHTSHADE by Michael Connelly. Never read any of Connelly’s books before but quite enjoying this one. #books #booksky 💙📚

The cover of the novel NIGHTSHADE by Michael Connelly

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Gyoza (or gyōza) is actually the Japanese name for potstickers, though the word is derived from Chinese, of course. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi#...

Gyóza are a Japanese version of jiaozi, developed from recipes brought back by Japanese colonizers returning from the Japanese-backed puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China after World War II. The word gyoza was likely adopted by Japanese settler colonists from the Manchu word giyose.

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Here we go! A picture and a thumbs up from a diner, who praised the "great balance of cheese, lime and avocado” (looks like sour cream to me) and said it was "so delicious that I polished it off in no time." note.com/naco1201/n/n...

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Also intrigued by “New Zealand-Style Nachos” available at a bar at the same hotel

A menu including “New Zealand-Style Nachos”

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Currently reading DAYS AT THE MORISAKI BOOKSHOP by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa #books #booksky 💙📚

The cover of the novel “Days at the Morisaki Bookshop” by Satoshi Yagisawa

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Maybe it’s only a mystery to me. With all those details, surely someone has established Ken's real identity. Or could it be that he is not a real person?

The years passed. The last time I ever saw him we drove all night
with my friend Anant from London to Genève. Driving through a forest near Châtillon-sur-Seine, we heard Coltrane on the radio playing 'My Favourite Things'. It was during this journey that Ken told me he was returning to New Zealand. He was then sixty-five. I didn't ask him why because I didn’t want to hear him say: to die.

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Maybe this biography will solve the “mystery” of the identity of Berger’s New Zealand-born mentor, Ken, who is mentioned in the essay “Krakow” but only by his first name.

Ken was born in New Zealand and died there. I sit on the bench opposite him. This man, sixty years ago, shared with me what he knew, although he never told me how he learnt what he knew. He never spoke about his childhood or his parents. I had the impression he left New Zealand for Europe when he was young, before he was twenty. Were his parents rich or poor? Maybe it makes as little sense to ask that question
of him as it would of the people in this market at this moment. Distances never daunted him. Wellington, New Zealand, Paris, New York, the Bayswater Road, London, Norway, Spain, and at some moment, I think, Burma or India. He earned his living, variously, as a journalist, a schoolteacher, a dance instructor, an extra in films, a gigolo, a bookseller without a shop, a cricket umpire. Maybe some of what I'm saying is false, yet it is my way of making a portrait of him for myself as he sits in front of me in the Place Now. In Paris he drew cartoons for a newspaper, of this I am certain. I remember distinctly the kind of toothbrushes he liked - ones with extra long handles, and I remember the
size of shoe he took - an eleven.

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Currently reading DECEPTION by Alan Parks #books #booksky 💙📚

The cover of the novel “Deception” by Alan Parks

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Question 6 might be interesting. 🍿

A list of oral questions to ministers in the New Zealand Parliament for 5 August with the following question highlighted:

DR LAWRENCE XU-NAN to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Does he stand by all his statements and actions?

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I’m enjoying the series Human Vapor (ガス人間) on Netflix. Based on the 1960 “tokusatsu” film The Human Vapor, it’s a Japanese–South Korean co-production written by Yeon Sang-ho and Ryu Yong-jae and directed by Shinzo Katayama.

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Currently reading SISTERS IN YELLOW by Mieko Kawakami #books #booksky 💙📚

The cover of the novel “Sisters in Yellow” by Mieko Kawakami

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

In Bruges late last week. With temperatures climbing into the the mid 30s, it was a relief to get out on the water on a boat cruise of the city’s canals (Bruges is known as the “Venice of the North”), but I wonder how many tourists have lost their heads on those low-slung bridges?

A selfie of two hot 🥵 tourists with a canal and medieval buildings in the background.

Tourists in a boat on a canal ducking as thy approach a low-slung bridge

Swans relaxing on a riverbank with a bridge and medieval buildings in the background

Medieval buildings viewed through a bunch of trees

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

These photos (by my wife) probably give a better impression of the museum’s interior

The inside of a concrete grain silo that has been turned into an art museum

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I did a double take when I saw the name of the artist responsible for this painting in the museum’s collection. Yes, it’s by Moomin creator Tove Jansson.

A label reading “Tove Jansson, Fl, 1914-2001, Kaféinteriör (Cafe Interior)
1939, Olje på lerret / Oil on canvas, Tangen-samlingen / The Tangen Collection”

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

What do you do with a massive, disused grain silo on your waterfront? If you’re the city of Kristiansand in Norway, you turn it into an art museum showcasing Nordic Modernism.

Inside a massive concrete grain silo that has been turned into an art museum

A spiral staircase inside a concrete building

A woman looking at one of four large paintings in an art museum

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

We did a guided tour of the Stockholm Town Hall, including the Blue Room (not actually blue), where they host the Nobel Banquet, and the Gold Room (actually gold).

A large room with brick walls and a grand staircase

People in a large room with gold tiles on the walls and ceiling

Looking through a window at the waters of Stockholm

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

In 2018 I published a novel called SWEDEN, but until yesterday I’d never actually been to the country (most of the action takes place in Japan). It seemed right to bring a copy of the book with me.

A man in a striped shirt on a ferry holding up a book titled “Sweden”

A couple posing in front of a view of the Stockholm waterfront

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Hello from Tallinn, Estonia. We got some nice weather at last. Did a lot of walking in the medieval old city. Tomorrow we cross the Baltic Sea to Sweden.

A large, round tower made of stone with a smaller tower behind it

View looking out over a medieval city with brown tiled roofs

A woman standing on front of a restaurant with a Russian Orthodox cathedral in the background

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Me on those stairs a couple of days ago

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

London’s coffee game is definitely stronger than it was during our first trip here 30 years ago; I drink two cups a day and haven’t had a bad one. But there’s an alarming trend towards handleless cups. Ouch! say my fingers.

A cup of coffee next to a sandwich on a plate with a knife and fork

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

In the afternoon we took shelter from the rain in the beautiful Courtauld Gallery and savoured their jaw-dropping collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. 2/2

A woman admiring a painting of a man with a bandaged ear

A silhouetted man looking at a beautifully decorated room full of religious artworks

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Our last full day in London. In the morning we visited the Sky Garden on the 35th floor of the Fenchurch Building (aka the Walkie-Talkie) for some views of London in the drizzle. 1/2

The tall, modern Fenchurch Building (aka the Walkie-Talkie) behind a row of older buildings

A selfie of a man and woman with a view looking down on London in the background

The Gerkin surrounded by other tall buildings

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Today I present to you JMW Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire (in the National Gallery)

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Currently reading MAO II by Don DeLillo #books #booksky 💙📚

The cover of the novel “Mao II” by Don DeLillo

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Currently reading GUNNER by Alan Parks #books #booksky 💙📚

The cover of the novel “Gunner” by Alan Parks

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Matthew Turner @thewalkingfool.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

It's 8 years since my ill-fated attempt to hike the length of Route 16 in Japan. Prior to that, between 2007 and 2017, I successfully walked the so-called "Edo Five Routes," or go-kaidō (五街道).