A life in writing
How 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 response.

When he was just 15 he hitchhiked from the UK to Yugoslavia, and while still young made trips outside Europe which included travelling with camel-dealers across the deserts of Sudan. An exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson led him into photography, and after becoming a freelance photojournalist he did commissions such as covering the Lebanese civil war.

By combining writing with his photography, he was able to create order out of his travels, and he found himself drawn to the attractions of Asia. One of the highlights of this period was a two hour interview with Aung San Suu Kyi. In 1990-1991 he made visits to Laos, which later became the focus of his first book – a coffee table photographic study which came out in 1997 after some 30 rejections (a lesson in persistence!).

Books followed on other countries, namely the Philippines and Japan, and it was the latter in particular on which he chose to focus. Despite starting a family, he continued to make trips collecting information and doing interviews while taking photos of food, architecture and urban renewal. And of course gardens, for which he has become well-known. In all, he reckons to have visited 430 Japanese gardens, of which he selected 100 to be featured in one of his many books.

To wrap up his talk, Stephen read out an essay he wrote after a visit to Donald Richie in his Tokyo apartment. It was a revealing portrait of the author, full of insight and delicate touches. Like his predecessor Lafcadio Hearn, Richie exemplified diligence and dedication to his craft, even scribbling away while in hospital. It was a fitting conclusion to an inspiring talk, and Writers in Kyoto is indebted to Stephen for coming all the way from Chiba and providing us with such fine fare our lunchtime gathering.

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For Stephen Mansfield’s review of the WiK Anthology 3, Encounters with Kyoto, please click here.

For his amazon page with a list of his books, please see this link.