Book Review of Tokyo: A Biography by Stephen Mansfield (208 pages) Disasters, Destruction and Renewal: The Story of an Indomitable City Reviewer: Ian Yates Tokyo, the city, the metropolis, the legend, has always been overpowering to me. It has intimidated and frightened me by its vastness. This fear morphed into disdain and a belief that …Read More
Category: Book Reviews (Page 4 of 4)
A book review by John Dougill Most Kyoto residents will be familiar with The Lady and the Monk, published in 1991, in which a foreigner in search of Zen finds unexpected love. Many may have finished the book wondering what happened to the couple. Reader, they married. Now, nearly thirty years later, we are presented …Read More
A book review by John Dougill. Stone gardens are an art form in themselves, different from other garden types and with distinctive features. As Stephen Mansfield shows in the early chapters of his book, the stone garden drew on diverse origins – animist use of sacred rocks and space; Chinese idealisations of nature; the Japanese …Read More
(Richard Lloyd Parry will be speaking at Ryukoku University, Omiya campus, on May 12. All welcome; see right hand column for details. The book review that follows is a slightly amended version of the posting on the Green Shinto blog by John Dougill.) *************** March 11, 2011 was a devastating day for Japan. Over 18,500 …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
Persimmon Book review by Andrew Sokulski Zozaya (WiK intern) [Persimmon is a publication by the Hailstone Haiku Circle based in Kansai. The group was formed in 2000 and its webpage Icebox can be viewed here.] Persimmon emits an aura of originality. A particularly pleasing passage, for example, is a poetic sequence about Carmina Burana, the descriptive cantata. …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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