Wanted: tech-savvy person to continue our model Table of Contents for the year’s website pages. This would be a wonderful resource if anyone (or ones) is able to help. (With thanks to Sara Aoyama for the idea and sending in this exemplar.)
Category: Misc.
Quotations, articles and other items of interest
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 and museums. On October 4 Writers in Kyoto was fortunate to host its creator at a dinner talk when he …Read More
Review of TOKYO POETRY JOURNAL VOL. 5: ‘JAPAN AND THE BEATS’ There’s something deliciously cool about ToPoJo 5. There’s a handwritten poem on the front cover by Nanao Sakaki, with GWOOON BALI BALI! crying out for attention. There’s a back cover photo of Allen Ginsberg et al. in which his hair, jacket and tie stand …Read More
Driven by social media and falling concentration spans, the trend of recent times is for shorter and shorter fiction. Twitter is a prime example, with writers challenged to fit something meaningful into 140 characters. This was highlighted in a recent article in The Author, house magazine of the UK’s Society of Authors, which cited a …Read More
Mark Richardson, one of the most prominent scholars on the poet Robert Frost (1874-1963), will be presenting material related to the poet on Jan 21 (for details, please see the right-hand column). In particular he will be discussing an interesting but never published––and never mailed––letter that affords a fascinating look into the poet’s life and …Read More
Books set in Kyoto start with the classics… Murasaki Shikibu – The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) (c.1000-21) Sei Shonagon – The Pillow Book (Makura no Sōshi) (1002) Kamo no Chomei – An Account of a Ten Foot Square Hut (Hojoki) (1212) anon – Ōkagami (the Great Mirror) date unknown anon – The Tales of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) mid-13th …Read More
Timeless advice on writing from famous authors Created by Maria Popova (www.brainpickings.org) on Jun 18 2012. Marilynne Robinson: “Beauty,” Writing, What Storytelling Can Learn from Science, and the Splendors of Uncertainty “We are part of a mystery, a splendid mystery within which we must attempt to orient ourselves if we are to have a sense of …Read More
Notre Dame University Event
report from John Dougill
Haruki Murakami, when asked recently about what advice he would give to an aspiring writer had an interesting take on the matter. “The act of writing is the same as sweet-talking a woman, in that you can get better, to an extent, with practice. Fundamentally, though, your abilities are determined by the talents you’ve been …Read More
WiK 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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