Travelling North by Simon Rowe Uramoto was short, in his thirties, with a buzz cut and a smile that practically broke his face in half. At eight p.m. he fired up his Fuso and told me to jump in. We would be carrying a consignment of senbei to Kōfu city in Yamanashi prefecture, he said. …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 24 of 45)
Some Words and Photographs By John Einarsen The words attached to a photograph can radically alter how we “read” or understand it. Words give context, intended or unintended. One’s experience of an image often depends on the words that caption it. My approach to photography is perceptual, which means that my focus is on the …Read More
Self-Introduction: Rick Mitcham My full name is Roderick Ellis Mitcham, but please call me Rick. At the start of the various English-language courses I teach here in Kyoto, I use my name to introduce myself. I tell my students that Mitcham is my surname; Ellis, my middle name, is my mother’s maiden name; and Roderick, …Read More
“”””””””””””””””””””””” A KYOTO NEW YEAR The true soul of Japan is neither Shinto nor Buddhist. It’s Shinto-Buddhist. Until the artificial split of early Meiji times, the country had more than 1000 years of happy syncretism. Born Shinto, die Buddhist is the Japanese way. Shinto is this-worldly, concerned with rites of passage and social well-being. Buddhism …Read More
Reggie Pawle writes… I have gone on a meandering path in life from where I grew up, which was in the rural state of Maine in the U.S.A. I was brought up to follow in my family tradition (seven generations before mine) of being a Protestant Christian minister, I was a religion major in …Read More
The WiK bonenkai, held in the cosy surrounds of Philippe’s bar off Kiyamachi, proved a lively and heartwarming evening as bonhomie was interspersed with the showcasing of the remarkable talents of the foreign community in Kyoto. At times this was reminiscent of the old Kyoto Connection days, and it was good to see the organiser …Read More
ANOTHER PLANE by Ken Rodgers One day, when he [Chan master Zhaozhao] was about to leave for the Five-Peak Mountain, a monk spoke this verse: What mountain anywhere is not sacred? Why go to the Five-Peaked Mountain with a walking stick? Even if a lion with the golden mane manifests …Read More
December 2 at Kushikura near Oike Takakura, eight WiK members had an enjoyable dinner evening with Vauhini Vara, journalist, fiction writer and winner of the O. Henry Prize, together with her husband novelist Andrew Foster Altschul, author of Deus Ex Machina and a former fellow at the Breadloaf and Sewanee Writers conferences. Between them …Read More
Yumiko Sato lunchtime talk on Nov 24, 2018 Born and raised in Japan, educated at university in America, Yumiko has experience of working with dementia patients and the dying in both the US and Japan. Her speciality is music therapy, and as well as the guitar she plays harp. ukelele and Native American flute. Her …Read More
My Journey to Kyoto (by Iris Reinbacher) I left Austria in 2002. I had just finished my masters in mathematics, but wasn’t ready to join the workforce, so I accepted a PhD position in the computer science department at Utrecht University. Four years later, and now “officially smart”, settling down was still the last thing …Read More
Kyoto Writing Competition
WiK Anthologies
The Nature of Kyoto (2023)
Eds. Lisa Twaronite Sone & Robert Weis
Foreword by Pico Iyer
Structures of Kyoto (2021)
Eds: Rebecca Otowa & Karen Lee Tawarayama
Foreword by Judith Clancy
Encounters with Kyoto (2019)
Eds: Jann Williams & Ian Josh Yates
Foreword by Juliet Winters Carpenter
Echoes (2017)
Eds: John Dougill, Amy Chavez, & Mark Richardson
Preface by Alex Kerr
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