I'd been living in Japan for the past 10 years, and I had great success there in the business world, climbed up the corporate ladder.

NPR: Unemployed Women Wait For Phone To Ring

Down a dog-leg alleyway off a nondescript stretch of busy Shijo Avenue, and up one of the narrowest flights of stairs I have ever climbed, I meet the fourth and fifth generations of the Takenaka printing family.

BBC: The art of Japan

I'd checked into the beguiling Maison Souvannaphoum, walked down the road, and climbed 355 steps up Mount Phousi, the temple-crowned hill in the center of town.

FORBES: Travel