And so we say goodbye to the Dragon and hello to the Snake. I would have been glad to celebrate the end of 2024 with a Bonenkai (“forget the year party”) as usual. I was glad to see the end of 2024 myself, and I can think of others that would also be glad. As it happened, there was not time to organize the Bonenkai for 2024, so we ended up having a New Year party (shinnenkai) instead, at our beloved Gnome Bar in Kyoto, which has been the venue for many of our wonderful gatherings. Thanks to Gnome for always being there for us, for the way they take everything we dish out, and speaking of dishing out, their wonderful food and drink makes every party special.

This time, owing to business and busy-ness, to sudden illnesses and overseas convalescence, we didn’t have some of our key members on hand, especially John Dougill, Kirsty, Karen, Jann, Ted, Julian, Cody, and others. We missed them. But to make up for this, we did have three or four new members who not only attended but also participated. Thanks to them for that and I hope their time as members of Writers in Kyoto is fruitful.

This time, instead of Words and Music, we had a book table with published works by various members and some people talking about their personal journeys to publication. Thanks very much to all who agreed to speak, including Daniel Sofer (his book “Empty Kyoto” is a photography book showing scenes of the city during the pandemic); Nathan Mader (poet from Canada, who introduced his book, “The Endless Animal”); Bruce Hamana, an Urasenke tea master who introduced two interesting books, “100 Beautiful Words in the way of Tea”, his little book of poetic names used in tea, and the more recent “Nihon no Koyomi”, a bilingual book about the 72 microseasons with lots of information; Taylor Mignon, who introduced several books and the one (“Visual Poetry of Kyoto”) he put out recently with the editing expertise of our own Webmaster, Rick Elizaga; Rick, who introduced the newly refurbished website of Writers in Kyoto, a labor of love which he performed last year along with Sara Ackerman Aoyama. (Please check out the changes and especially increased cross-referencing and tags, a monumental work still in progress; if you are a member, please consider adding to your profile page!); Felicity Tilllack, who spoke about her film, “Impossible to Imagine”, and the unique challenges of this type of publication; Pamela Asai, a new member who introduced her poetry books — and is also a painter; and James Woodham, who talked about his book “Japanese Tea Culture: the Omotesenke Tradition” and the monthly newsletter of Omotesenke, which he has been working on for many years.

We were also honored to see John Einarsen and Susan Pavloska of Kyoto Journal there, and John gave a short memorial talk for our beloved Ken Rodgers who passed away last November. A minute of silence was provided for us all to remember Ken and the various times he helped us and was always there with his humor and kindness. Recently, Eric Johnston has written an obituary for Ken in the Japan Times.

Altogether a fine evening. I would just like to mention a couple of things in passing.

First, we should have a book table at future events, including the Anthologies that we are proud to have compiled over the years. We should also ask authors (not just published ones, but anyone who writes or does other artistic endeavors, and loves their craft) to talk about their experiences, why they create what they create, their process and publishing hints etc., more often. Relatively famous authors grace our event schedule from time to time, and we are very grateful for them, but there are also the slightly more unsung people for whom writing, or other creating, and Kyoto, are very precious parts of their lives, and we should celebrate them all.

Also, I’d like to thank everyone who is associated with Writers in Kyoto for all they do, members and organizers alike. This year we celebrate our tenth anniversary, which sadly will be marked by the stepping down of our Founder, John Dougill. We are presently trying to figure out how to keep WiK going after the Era of John, and would appreciate any suggestions and help from members about this.

Best wishes for 2025 to all who help make Writers in Kyoto what it is.

PS: the sold books donations came to more than ¥3000. Thanks to all who participated.