by Tetiana Korchuk Mari nervously took a glimpse at her watch: it was 10:58, Two minutes left until her annual time travel. She already made it twice in the past, as obligatory part of her social studies class, first time when she just turned 13, and last year – at the age of 14. Where …Read More
Category: On Kyoto (Page 2 of 11)
Writings about Kyoto, whether by Japanese or foreign observers
by Yuki Yamauchi Japan has produced a great number of anime film directors, notably Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo, Hideaki Anno, Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai. Besides them, I would like to mention Satoshi Kon and write about him in detail, especially his connection with Kyoto. Kon was born in Hokkaido in …Read More
by Amber Logan Below is an excerpt from Chapter Two of The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn, a modern Gothic retelling of The Secret Garden. Here is a synopsis: Still grieving her mother’s death, American photographer Mari Lennox is sent to document Yanagi Inn, an old, dilapidated ryokan outside Kyoto. By day, Mari explores the …Read More
by Adam Downham You wouldn’t know it from the body of photography books out there, but snow is fairly uncommon in Kyoto. I suppose it’s the infrequency of it that brings out the cameramen in droves when it does finally fall. I had rather naively expected this idealized version of winter in Kyoto to be …Read More
An excerpt from “Enabled by the Internet: A Multicultural Mother and Daughter in Japan” by Suzanne Kamata *******************
By Robert Weis Time has stopped at Wachi Station, where my companion and I are waiting to meet our host, Mr Yamada. I watch the tiny movements of a swallow patiently building its nest under the roof of the grocery shop where we drink coffee. Delicious. My thoughts wander as I follow the comings and …Read More
By Kirsty Kawano (written for Zenbird in August 2021) For more than one thousand years, Kyoto has held Japan’s biggest festival, the Gion Festival. In a regular year, throughout the month of July, more than one million people crowd into downtown Kyoto City to experience the street stalls, the towering wooden floats adorned with gorgeous …Read More
“Lemon” (Remon) is a short story by Motojirō Kajii. written in 1924. Plot(The following is taken from Wikipedia. To see the full entry, click here.) The protagonist, who has diseased lungs, is tormented by strange anxiety all the time. He lost his interest in the stationery store Maruzen, music, and poetry that he had been …Read More
Wintermoon, by Robert Maclean. Isobar Press, Tokyo, 2022. A review by Mark Richardson. I’m most at home with verse conventional to English from the 16th through the 20th centuries. I enjoy poems that argue or imply arguments. I want rhyme, well-framed stanzas, conceits. Give me Hardy, Herbert, Larkin, Frost or Bishop⎯or Seidel and Ogden Nash. …Read More
by Richard Holmes It’s that time of the year again when people leave their March madness behind them and go nuts over flowers. You know, the ones that flower in all shades of pink all over Japan. There’s even a weather term named after them – the 桜前線 ‘sakura zensen’ or cherry blossom front. People …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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