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Impromptu activist
Impromptu Anti-Plastic Environmental Activist in Shugakuin– Marianne Kimura When we moved to our neighborhood almost five years ago, there was a rather large green field on a road near our house. Of course, in the…
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Pearl City (Rowe)
Pearl City by Simon Rowe A Mami Suzuki Mystery Silhouetted against the noonday sky, the president of Tokai Pearls Ltd. stood at his suite window and surveyed the harbor. His gaze ranged from the shipyards…
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WiK Anthology 3 launched
“Encounters With Kyoto” Book launch– report by Iris Reinbacher On Saturday, June 22nd, WiK held the official launch party for the 3rd Writers in Kyoto Anthology, called Encounters With Kyoto. About half of WiK’s members…
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Versions of Ryoan-ji (Allen S Weiss)
When is Ryōan-ji not Ryōan-ji? At what point does representation become abstraction, or does one thing morph into something totally different? John Cage loved stones, and collected them from all over the world. He also…
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MONKEY WANT BANANA (Kevin Ramsden)
Dougal McLeish had been staring out of his office window for a full hour, the yellowing light of an early autumnal evening creeping slowly across the cluttered desktop in front of him. Hands folded in…
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Villanelle (Houser)
Forsaking the farce of form and faceArtists forced to raze the dominant paradigmSeizing the sense of silence and space The painter replicates without a traceFleeing frigid hue and spectral climeForsaking the farce of form and…
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Japanese Stone Gardens (Stephen Mansfield)
A book review by John Dougill. Stone gardens are an art form in themselves, different from other garden types and with distinctive features. As Stephen Mansfield shows in the early chapters of his book, the…
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Kyoto Literature Award
While Writers in Kyoto is dedicated to local writers publishing in English, the following may be interesting to anybody who writes in Japanese: The First Kyoto Literature Award invites writers from all over the world…
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Autumn Light (Pico Iyer)
A book review by John Dougill Most Kyoto residents will be familiar with The Lady and the Monk, published in 1991, in which a foreigner in search of Zen finds unexpected love. Many may have…
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On Izumi Kyoka (David Joiner)
Although Kanazawa is recognized by UNESCO as a “City of Crafts and Traditional Arts,” it has also produced many great writers over the years, and, adding to this its impressive literary halls, museums, memorials, statues,…
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Interactive Story (Kevin Ramsden)
Hello fellow WiK members, and a very happy, hot and humid holiday season to you all. I’m not sure about your good selves, but at this time of the year, in Kyoto especially, I find…
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Embracing the Nijojo Circuit (Jann Williams)
Running is not an activity you associate with my family. So says my brother Rod. This is true in recent decades. Vigorous exercise has not been our forte. That changed when I was lured to…
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Plum Rains on Happy House (Michael Greco)
A Writers in Kyoto Interview with Michael Greco. Could you tell us briefly about how you came to Kyoto? I’m the only person I know who actually came to Japan by boat, landing in 1983…
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Oysters to Die For (Simon Rowe)
‘Fragrant Harbor’ they called it. But Hong Kong was anything but fragrant the night Poh Seng Pang flew in. The air outside the terminal was dank, vegetative—like the smell of the Singapore River in wet…
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Hello World – Anime Kyoto
Kyoto has long been seen as a magical locus for fantastical happenings. Not only is it the cultural heart of the nation, but it has a rich legacy of the unseen. This is after all…
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WiK featured in national press
The Japan Times puts out a daily newsletter called Take 5 which takes the pick of current content and links to archived material. Item no. 5 in the Wednesday Sept 25 edition was of particular…
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‘Encounters with Kyoto’ – Australian launch in Hobart Tasmania
A report written by Ruth Williams who calls Melbourne, Australia home. The launch took place on September 22, 2019. Every good book deserves further acknowledgement and the third Writers in Kyoto Anthology qualifies. Following the…
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Japan Writers Conference
Something for everyone at Japan Writers Conference September 27, 2019 By Kiri Falls / Japan News Staff Writer Japan may seem an unlikely place for English-language novelists, poets and essayists to ply their trade, but…
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Japan Travel Guides (Publishers Weekly)
P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY J U LY 2 9 , 2 0 1 9 An Olympian Effort BY JASMINA KELEMEN Ahead of the 2020…
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Stephen Mansfield lunch talk
A life in writingHow do you make sense of the world if you’re restless by nature and always on the move? Over lunch at Kyoto University’s French restaurant, Stephen Mansfield gave an elegant and entertaining…
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Murakami’s Kyoto past
New Murakami article recounts memories of his late father By MARIKO NAKAMURA/ Asahi, May 10, 2019 (see here for original) Haruki Murakami attends a speaking event at La Colline Theatre National in Paris on Feb.…
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Schumacher’s Picture Dictionary
Anyone doing research on Japanese culture, and on Japanese religion in particular, will be familiar with Mark Schumacher’s A-Z Photo Dictionary of Buddhism and Shinto in Japan. It’s an invaluable resource, acknowledged overseas by scholars…
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Seto Naikai reminiscence
Inland Sea Life in the Showa EraAmy Chavez Fumiko twittered over to the genkan with arms pressed down at her sides and hands jutting out to the sides like little wings. Wearing a simple button…
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Poem: Okunoin, Koyasan
Okunoin, Koyasan / 奥の院、高野山 One enters this sacred garden aloneFinding one’s way by learning to readThe resonating air surrounding the stone Consulting a tome or charting a zone Unknown home where paths may leadOne enters this…
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Nov 24 – Chris Mosdell at home
Wordsmith Chris Mosdell has had a high profile career as scriptwriter, lyricist, poet, author, performer and experimentalist, working with some of the top people in Japan. We are delighted therefore to announce an opportunity to…
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50th anniversary
The foreign community in Kyoto will all know of the delicious cheesecake available from the Papa Jon’s shops in town. Many will also know the popular owner, Charles Roche. Few will know however that October…
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A Kyoto Pilgrimage
A KYOTO PILGRIMAGEby N. J. Teele About twenty years ago, walking down Teramachi-dori from Shijo, I came across a musty little shop specializing in pre-Meiji wasōbon (books printed and bound in the traditional Japanese manner).…
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The Horned God
THE HORNED GODby Marianne Kimura No one knew how the statue of the horned god had gotten to the end of the broken desolate peninsula encased in the shambles of soggy, broken concrete. This spot,…
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Heritage and Tourism Symposium
Protection and Promotion — Striking a Balance Heritage and Tourism Symposium, November 8, 2019 by Rebecca Otowa This past November 8, Writers in Kyoto hosted the Heritage and Tourism Symposium with four guest speakers.…
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Poems (Malcolm Ledger)
Another SinceWe metThere has beenNo oneElseFor me but youTookAnotherAnd cameTo regretIt. ************ By the River I sat on the banks of the darkening river, By the broad, slow stream, where the water runs deep, And…
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