by Allen S. Weiss My desire to return to Kyoto has been frustrated for over two years due to the covid epidemic, just as work on my most recent book project, Illusory Dwellings: A Kyoto Travelogue, has been stalled for the same reason. But there are many ways to travel. A voyage has neither beginning …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 5 of 45)
by Yuki Yamauchi Japan has magnetised many globally popular musicians such as John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga. Of course, David Bowie (1947-2016) is no exception, either. His interest in the country’s culture started in the 1960s and led the London-born artist to play the koto on ‘Moss Garden’, a track on …Read More
Exhibition of ‘Spirit of Shizen’ at Luxembourg’s Natural History Museum, July-August 2022 by Robert Weis Nature in Japan has long been awe-inspiring through the beautifully articulated four seasons, but also threatening due to recurrent natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, heavy rainfalls and tsunami. The traditional relationship between Japanese people, their culture and their …Read More
‘Hic svnt Dracons‘ by Alex Olivera By way of introduction…. Louise Bourgeois once said that the artist who discusses the so-called ‘meaning of his work’ is usually describing a literary side issue, and that the core of their original impulse is to be discovered, if at all, in the work itself. It is under this light that …Read More
by Douglas Anthony Cooper Where a woman, hand full of sunflowersDwarfs a tyrant, shames a soldierLays a curse upon cowardsThere we who are small and watchingMerely watching, safe behind screensAre maybe redeemedAnd blue will rise over yellow And we who are breathing, poorlyAir sick with lies, alone among friendsAnd starved of wonderLook to a woman …Read More
(an excerpt from The Baseball Widow)By Suzanne Kamata Christine loved Trina’s oak table. She loved this kitchen with its American-sized refrigerator decorated with animal magnets and children’s art, its scent of baked bread, and the cross-stitch samplers on the wall. She loved Trina’s dishes, painted with blue Chinese landscapes, like the ones that she ate …Read More
by Jann Williams (January 26, 2022) Identifying the oldest yin-yang symbol in Japan has been an ongoing passion of mine. The philosophy of yin-yang (J. in-yo) was formally introduced into Japan in the 6th century AD and still permeates contemporary culture. One might imagine that the two-tone interlocking representation of yin-yang, created in the late …Read More
by Stephen Benfey The temple bell rang long and loud that night. Dogs howled. Cats like Meander played. At Shinto Shrines across Japan worshippers pitched cash into slotted boxes, praying for prosperity, health, and success. When Meander got home he found an empty house. When Helene got home she found a peeved Meander waiting to …Read More
Pomez by one-time WiK member, AJ Dickinson The collection comprises three books of poetry, originally published in 2012 in Kyoto, Japan, with the assistance of John Wells, who did the book design and cover photos. The printed books, which came out with Blurb, have now been made available to be read online, thanks to John …Read More
This interview celebrates David Joiner’s new novel Kanazawa, published by Stone Bridge Press. 1) Why Kanazawa? Kanazawa has a rich literary history, and as a resident there I encountered it often while exploring the city. It boasts museums not only to several of its most famous writers, but also to the city’s literary history; a …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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