by Lisa Twaronite Sone I used to volunteer at a nursing home . I would sign in at the front desk and then walk from room to room with my infant daughter, chatting with anyone who wanted to talk to a visitor. One day, I wandered into the full care wing of the building. I …Read More
Category: WiK members (Page 6 of 25)
Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto
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.
An excerpt from “Enabled by the Internet: A Multicultural Mother and Daughter in Japan” by Suzanne Kamata *******************
by Stephen Mansfield This essay originally appeared in German as one of six contributions to, then Japan-based German photographer, Hans Sautter’s large format book, ‘Japan.’ Each contributor was assigned a theme to write about, in my case, the Japanese city. This month sees the English language version of the book from an American publisher. In Maurice …Read More
by Cody Poulton “About suffering they were never wrong,The old Masters …” Auden, Musée de Beaux Artes On the wall of the little sitting room in our Kyoto house is a reproduction of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Netherlandish Proverbs, one of those delightfully busy portraits of a host of peasants up to no good. An …Read More
by Rebecca Otowa Like many of you, living in Japan has meant I have a special relationship with the Hannya Shingyo (“Heart Sutra”), that one-page piece of writing that is said to summarize the teachings of Buddhism as taught in many sects, including Zen. In my student days, while studying Japanese Buddhism at Otani University …Read More
by Sara Ackerman Aoyama Natsumi opened the door cautiously and walked into the Starbucks. She was counting on being able to grab a chair at the window overlooking the Kamo River. But first, her eyes went to the menu on the wall. She could hardly believe it but today, finally, was the day that the …Read More
By Simon Rowe Stands to reason that in tough economic times, people spend less on luxuries and more on small pleasures—like beer, cigarettes, and Uniqlo underwear. A new rooftop beer garden opened in Himeji last week (two floors above Uniqlo), affording more skyline drinking space for the hard-working denizens of this town; another place for …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
by Lisa Twaronite Sone Sweeping the dust, that used to be my job at Hounji. I also worked as a maid at a nearby hotel, but I liked being outside. So when my shifts there were over, I would walk over to the temple, pick up a broom and sweep for hours. It didn’t pay …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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