Robert Weis has a passion for Japan, and for Kyoto in particular. ‘It’s my spiritual home,’ he says. He draws inspiration from its famous and not so famous spots, and for WiK’s fifth anthology he wrote of the significance of mountains around Kyoto. His appreciation of trees, especially maples, is evident in his writing. ‘When …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 2 of 45)
On Sunday, October 29, Writers in Kyoto had the honour and pleasure of a lunchtime talk by Japanese garden expert, Marc Keane. After some twenty years in Japan, when he not only studied about Japanese gardens but designed them, he returned to America where he taught at Cornell University before relocating recently back to Kyoto. …Read More
by Robert Weis The following text is an excerpt from the self-published volume A tiny nature – recollections of poems and trees (August 2023), available exclusively from Amazon. It features a collection of poems, short prose texts and photographs of bonsai trees from Japan and Europe. ********************I was gazing at the landscape from behind the …Read More
by Amanda Huggins Beth and James arrived in the Japanese Alps after yet another petty argument. It had started before they left Tokyo and then worsened when they reached Shinshimashima train station and were unable to agree on their onward bus route. When they finally found the right bus for Kamikochi, a previous disagreement resurfaced …Read More
by Marianne Kimura “Omigod!”, I exclaimed in a slightly theatrical, artificially loud voice to my husband Satoshi and shoved my phone in his face just as he was about to bite into a shrimp-flavored rice cracker.“Wha..?” he mumbled idly.“Japan’s debt is like 220% of its GDP! It’s the worst one in the world!”Without answering, he …Read More
WiK member Milena Guziak is a leading trainer worldwide of guides for shinrin yoku (forest bathing). To understand more about the practice, please see her ‘Mindful tourist’ website here. Below is a selection of poems, written in Japanese and translated by herself, that have been inspired by the prolonged periods of immersion in nature involved …Read More
ANOTHER WORLD Report on a Lunchtime Talk by Cody Poulton, March 26, 2023By Rebecca Otowa Mark Cody Poulton (PhD, U of T) has been teaching Japanese language, literature and theatre in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies since 1988. His recent research has focused on Japanese theatre and drama, particularly of the modern period. …Read More
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
Poems and photos from Lake Biwa by James Woodham spider walks the airunspooling from his beinglifelines of silver where the wind takes ithow light a life that’s floatingshadow on the sand Santoka* walking –nothing between him and deathhaiku and sake gift of his whole lifeSantoka into the wind ragged spirit free reeds flailed by the wind …Read More
By Simon Rowe The City Fathers call Omoide Yokocho by its official name—Memory Lane. Locals prefer ‘Piss Alley’. For me it’s a little of both: a place to sip cheap beer on a hot evening, to reminisce of my wayward youth, and maybe shoot the breeze with another seasoned drinker. Because that’s all you’ll meet …Read More
WiK Writing Competition
Eighth Annual Writing Competition Winners (2023)
Previous years:
Seventh Annual Writing Competition Winners (2022)
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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