By Edward Levinson During the 1990’s when I visited Kyoto on photo trips, I often stayed with an American friend who lived just across the street from Shisendō, the famous poets’ retreat temple on the north side of Kyoto. As a photographer and poet, I have always seen Shisendō as a favorite place to visit …Read More
Category: WiK members (Page 3 of 25)
Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto
by Lea Millay Lea writes: ‘I offer a few winter tanka inspired by my time in Kyoto last December. May they give a brief respite from the summer heat.’ climbing the steep hilla pillow of stone offersdeep and dreamless sleepas wind rustles winter pines a clear moon graces the sky When I was walking alone on …Read More
By Sara Ackerman Aoyama [The author was a member of the 1976 Associated Kyoto Program and this was her first, but certainly not her last, visit to Kyoto. This is an excerpt from her memoir in progress on learning to read with the counterculture in Kyoto.] The three of us Midwesterners had become close friends …Read More
by Marianne Kimura Around seven years ago, at a shaonkai (a party held for teachers by students the evening before graduation), Professor Eriko Furukawa, a specialist in Gothic literature, and I were balancing tiny plates of fried shrimp and canapes in a corner of a posh party venue filled with fairy lights, near the Okura …Read More
Jann WilliamsMay 14, 2023 A yellow caterpillar inspires poetry, a heart is opened, elusive scents are pursued, the sense of touch is playfully explored, a TikTok video is born, lives are changed. These instinctive and creative responses were evoked by an invitation to discover the beauty and wonder of nature, amidst the verdant forest foliage …Read More
REPORT FOR WIK ON ALEX KERR’S TALK May 10, 2023Sponsored by KUAS (Kyoto University of Advanced Science)by Rebecca Otowa A capacity audience was on hand for a talk by Alex Kerr (in Japanese) entitled “Kankou ha Rikkoku ka?” (Will Tourism Lift Up the Country?) at Kyoto Hotel Granvia on May 10. At least three members …Read More
by Edward J Taylor Blame it on the low yen, revenge travel, whatever, but our city found itself quite quickly under siege. After three lean but pleasantly restful years, it was startling to encounter this many people in town, and to do so many consecutive days of guiding. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with …Read More
Haiku and photos by Mayumi Kawaharada Winter Interminable queuesof displaced people— blizzard-ridden road Mother and baby carried off by the attacks— trampled winter roses War turns gentle siblings into crazed soldiers— a frozen battlefield Soldiers loot, for their loved ones… furious snowstorm A doll in red on a muddy snowmelt road — immobilized tanks Raging winter rain to the ashen …Read More
Celebrated photographer John Einarsen has a new book out, entitled This Very Moment. Below he describes the process by which the striking images are created. This week not only sees the 104th edition of the Kyoto Journal which he manages, but the opening of ‘Perception beyond Borders’, an exhibition of his photographs at Kunjyunkan gallery …Read More
Ken Rodgers writes… This special print issue of Kyoto Journal explores the ubiquitous role of flora as an essential subtheme in Kyoto’s timeless culture through essays, interviews, and poetry, illuminated by superb photography and artworks. The city is famously unique for its superb gardens, its rich heritage of tea ceremony and flower arrangement, its deeply-rooted culinary traditions based on heirloom vegetables, its longstanding literary appreciation of seasonal blossomings, and its …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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