by Malcolm Ledger A ’phone call brings the unexpected and sad news of the death of a long-time friend … “— melanoma – in the right armpit. By the time it was removed it was already seven millimetres deep. They tried chemotherapy, but it began to spread over the right side of his chest…and after …Read More
Category: WiK members (Page 10 of 25)
Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto
From Japan’s Kumano mountains to Luxembourg’s Mullerthal forests by Robert Weis “I got lost even though I know where I am” – these words, from Rebecca Solnit’s intriguing memoir, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, echoed in my head as I continued my solitary walk through the deep forests of the Kumano Mountains. The Kohechi …Read More
by Simon Rowe The biggest robbery in Japanese history occurred on March 5, 2004, in Tokyo’s wealthy Ginza ward. It was carried out by a gang belonging to a loosely-knit criminal group of eastern Europeans who have come to be known as the ‘Pink Panther gang’. The loot — the Comtesse de Vendome — has …Read More
A Short Story by Rebecca Otowa (October 2021) Keiko opened the metal front door with her key and almost fell inside. Her shadow, cast by the streetlight, lurched, and her white shoes seemed to tangle together. She recovered her balance, hauled her big carrier bag and a smaller one inside, and closed the door. She …Read More
Extracted from Edward Levinson’s Whisper of the Land (2014) sitting in the lotus position 蓮華座組みthe Zen carpenter 禅の大工がhammers nails 釘を打つalong the long hall of his life 長い人生の廊下に沿って renge-za kumi, Zen no daiku ga, kugi o utsu, nagai jinsei no rōka ni sotte My garden is not a Zen garden but it does have some symbolism, …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
by Fernando Torres
Lost Star by Cody Poulton In July my wife and I escaped Japan, its cursed Olympics, its damned pandemic, its incessant rains and constant heat, to spend a few refreshing weeks on the west coast of Canada. Even here, however, one can’t avoid extreme weather. It hasn’t rained in almost two months and the bone-dry …Read More
David Joiner has been a supportive member of Writers in Kyoto since we began almost seven years ago. We have followed his career with interest, and were delighted when his second novel Kanazawa was accepted by Stone Bridge Press. He is now working on his third novel. David writes as follows…. The last time I …Read More
Ichi-go Ichi-e – A Serendipitous Encounter I read the bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha many years ago. The book was so popular it even made it onto Carmela’s bedside table in an episode of The Sopranos. The story describes the struggles of a poor young girl in the early 1900’s, sold into a life …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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