by Yuki Yamauchi When Lafcadio Hearn taught English literature at Tokyo Imperial University (the current University of Tokyo), he praised a certain undergraduate as “the only one that can express himself in English among 10,000 Japanese students.” The prodigy worth such high praise was Bin Ueda. Born in 1874 at Tsukiji, Tokyo, he enriched his …Read More
Tag: Yuki Yamauchi
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 Yuki Yamauchi The relationship between David Bowie and Kyoto is a source of endless fascination. Less well known is the connection between the city and the mega rock band Queen. Like Bowie, who I wrote about in April, Freddie Mercury was particularly attracted to Kyoto. Queen has several links with Japan. For example, more …Read More
Yuki Yamauchi Lafcadio Hearn, as John Dougill points out here, visited Kyoto and retold stories set in the city. The Greek-born literatus never took up abode in the city, whereas one of his children did. It was Hearn’s second son, Iwao Inagaki.
by Yuki Yamauchi Japan has magnetised many globally popular musicians such as John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga. Of course, David Bowie (1947-2016) is no exception, either. His interest in the country’s culture started in the 1960s and led the London-born artist to play the koto on ‘Moss Garden’, a track on …Read More
An appreciation by Yuki Yamauchi On the afternoon of January 7th, many news outlets such as Gigazine and Oricon News reported the death of Hajime Fukuma, a 51-year-old electronic musician and composer. This followed the official announcement on his website that he had died, aged 51, of an aortic aneurysm on the first day of …Read More
A Glimpse into the History of Gion Higashiby Yuki Yamauchi The flamboyance of Kyoto has long been enhanced by the culture of five kagai (geisha quarters). Since my heart was touched by the performances of geiko and maiko in the Gion Odori of 2016, the focus of my interest has been in particular on Gion …Read More
Kyoto Stage and Film Director Akira Nobuchiby Yuki Yamauchi “Yes, it has been a bad dream… but a beautiful one will begin.’ So ends Monna Vanna, a 1902 drama by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. The phrase influenced Akira Nobuchi (1896-1968) so strongly that he contributed a short essay to his graduation yearbook, which ends as …Read More
Hello. I’m honored to be one of the members of Writers in Kyoto. I’m Yuki Yamauchi, a translator of English and Irish literature and part-time event writer for The Japan Times. I have written about events in Kyoto, such as annual performances of Kyoto’s five kagai (geisha districts), Kyoto Experiment and Nuit Blanche Kyoto. I was born in …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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