Rossiter is himself a poet and the founder of Isobar Press, which recently published a handsome edition of Hubbell’s selected poems. He started his talk by using extracts from his own scholarly 38-page introduction to this volume to familiarise us with Hubbell. Hubbell’s mother had a passion for the theatre and often took him to see local productions of Shakespeare. Hubbell must have been profoundly influenced by this, because he said that he started reading Shakespeare at the age of eight, and by the age of ten, had not only read all of the plays, but memorised them too.  

Yoko Danno the founder of Ikuta Press, which published Hubbell’s work after he came to Japan, was greatly encouraged by Hubbell at the start of her own career as a poet. She shared some amusing recollections of him, including her first meeting with him in 1967, at his house in Kyoto. Her anxiety at meeting the famous professor was soon dispelled by his playful yakuza-style greeting when he opened the front door and his admission that, because his house had no bath, he had taken up the offer of the proprietress of a nearby “lovers’ inn”, who had said he could use her hot spring facilities to take a bath after midnight. He did this before his usual bedtime of 4.00 or 5.00 a.m.

Rossiter followed this with readings of Hubbell’s poems, moving from the early, short and formal rhyming verses in the style of the New York poets of the 1920s, through the greatly expanded range of the work of his mid-thirties that followed a time of personal crisis. It was during this period that he produced the modernist “Long Island Triptych”, which Rossiter considers to be a masterpiece and one of the few cubist poems in the English language. Hubbell moved to Japan in 1953, at the age of 52, after which his poems became more relaxed and often humorous, though still technically precise:

KAMAKURA (1967)

After fourteen years the loudspeaker blaring jazz had gone.
The bars and the soft drink stalls had gone with time.
The G.I. whores who climbed on the statue to be photographed  
Were superseded by a sign that said: DO NOT CLIMB

ON THE STATUE. Japan had reasserted itself.
Reverence had returned to the place.
But to the Buddha it was as if nothing had happened.
There was no change in his face.

Hubbell, who lived to the age of 93, spent the last few years of his life bedridden in a hospital ward that he had to share with some other elderly patients — the only lucid mind in a roomful of senility. A private room in a Christian hospital was procured for him, but he refused to move into it, saying he was dedicated to Shinto, not Christianity.  

Paul Snowden, who met Hubbell in 1969 through his wife who was a student of Hubbell’s at Doshisha University, was also moved to come forward and share some stories about him. He recalled visiting him at his small house in Nishinomiya, near the Hanshin baseball stadium, and said that he was charming and generous, sending the Snowdens, from that time onwards, a copy of every volume of verse he had published.

After the readings we looked through the wide selection of Isobar Press publications at temptingly reduced prices which Rossiter and his wife had brought with them, and the Ikuta Press pamphlets that Yoko Danno had brought with her to give away.  

Some of us then headed to a nearby Italian restaurant where Paul told us a lot more about his experiences with publishing.  

Walking back to Kyoto station after dinner, with others who had come from faraway locations such as Kobe and Gifu, with a stomach full of beer and pizza and a backpack full of new books, I felt that it had been in many ways a very nourishing day.   

“Ting….. . . . . . .”

His singing bowl rang but not everyone was ready to hear it. When the talk lulled:
“Ting….. . . . .  .   .” again.

Focus. Cautioning us against negative thoughts, hoping for comments based on ‘appreciative inquiry’, he encouraged us to make eye contact with each person in the room. This was repeated later.

Now we were receptive, after showing pictures of Classically Balanced Imposing State Buildings (my styling, my impression) in Washington DC, a city he could not warm to as a child, he downplayed the forms of connected rational, one-thing-leading-to-another composition structures that our educators inculcated into our minds. On the fringes of states, communities with different narrative traditions survive. Children here find it hard to sew text with classical threads.

Likewise, translators from Japanese into northern European or Romance languages, have problems making comprehensible, to target readers, newspaper op-ed content written in ki > shō > ten > ketsu form.

Presenting asymmetry, Andy showed pictures of ikebana, ink drawings, a gable wall with higgledy-piggledy — sorry, “asymmetric” — windows in his house. The important thing in such arrangements is the space between elements and clustering…

Space             mind      play
         where            can 

Japanese art, they say, does not impose something finished on the observer, reader, or listener: during its reception, a response emerges, a process towards perfection. Andy likes the concept of emergence. And what’s not to like?

Now we were clued into asymmetry and space, the writing could begin.

Lists. Things you want and don’t want to write about. Today’s Categories: Faces, Scenes, Ideas, Feelings. Under those, any Items that come out of your pen.

Prompted by our items, we wrote for thirty-five minutes.

While the first volunteer read a long and fluent passage, Andy took notes. Afterwards, he shared a list of seemingly random words culled from the text. The effect was poetic and impressive. From a comment Andy made, such lists may hint at the interpretation that a receiver of communication makes during reception.

From my dump of disparate items, I read a personal, chronological passage that jumped locations. When I read it aloud, it had story. Andy read back his word list:

“Tch! He didn’t get it”—at-the-same-time—“Ah, openness, and textual non-completion.” He had engineered showing not telling. Reception. I was learning.

Hanging out with differently like-minded people, writing along with others, hearing feedback on their writing and my own… a rewarding afternoon. I’m glad I bothered.

Andy Couterier’s website, theopening.org has relevant articles:

• Ikebana Asymmetry and the Mind (PDF)
• Asymmetry Writing & the Mind (PDF)

His book, Writing Open the Mind, is available on Amazon and elsewhere.
On YouTube, Andy has posted a Zoom session of the same type of workshop.

These topics came up at a writers’ weekend hosted by longtime WiK member Rebecca Otowa on May 10-11th. Rebecca’s home deserves a special mention: her husband is the 19th generation of his family to occupy the 350-year old farmhouse in rural Shiga Prefecture. (For more on this, I recommend Rebecca’s book At Home In Japan – Tuttle, 2010.) They recently acquired the property next door and refurbished it as guest quarters, where our small group stayed.

Among the many experiences my fellow WiK members Rebecca, Karen Lee Tawarayama, Jann Williams and I share is that all of us have co-edited past WiK anthologies. We had coped with similar challenges of how to juggle the logistics of the project with our own busy lives — and we came to the same realization that prioritizing time for ourselves was not just an indulgence, but was vital to allow us to continuously approach our editing tasks with a fresh mind.

The weekend’s weather cooperated, and the predicted rain never fell. The four of us were able to take long walks around the village of Otowa, from which Rebecca’s family took its name. We foraged in their spring garden for snap peas, which Rebecca fried into exquisite tempura. 

But writing remained the focus, and our conversations somehow always returned to it. Rebecca suggested we do a series of exercises to unleash our creative energy — to stretch our muscles, so to speak.

My favorite of these involved selecting a book from her large library, opening to a page and writing down a random sentence to be the first line of a story — and then passing around the paper, for others to take a turn adding their own sentences. The results were surprisingly more coherent and compelling than I had expected.

In some ways, this exercise imitated life: all of us are born into random situations, and we then make our own marks before handing everything on to those who follow us to complete. Of course, in real life, we don’t always get to read the endings — instead, we have to imagine them, and understand that we’re just a single part of a long, unbroken circle.

On April 13, at the lovely Japanese-style Ganko Takasegawa Nijo-en restaurant, we said farewell to John Dougill in two important ways. First, he is stepping down as leader of Writers in Kyoto, and second, due to health issues, he is moving back to England and will be living in Oxford, a city he knows and loves. He will leave a big hole in the Kyoto foreigners’ community.

Photos by Rebecca Otowa and Rick Elizaga

The WiK committee and other members, about 20 in all, gathered to express our gratitude for his founding the group, and to say goodbye to him and wish him well as he begins this new phase of his life. As we enjoyed a lovely Japanese-style lunch (thankfully not on the floor!) we had lots of cheery chatter and good times.

A toast to John was offered by longtime member Mike Freiling. Drinks had not yet arrived so most of us toasted with water, which is all right I guess if lots of us were doing it at the same time! John gave a lovely talk in which he thanked many members by name, in his usual style of turning the spotlight elsewhere, and we were reminded of absent friends who couldn’t be there.

Two presents were offered to John — a tote bag with “Even in Kyoto, I long for Kyoto” (part of a famous haiku by Bashō) on it, which had been specially made for the occasion, and a shikishi (writing board) which was signed by all participants in the traditional Japanese way.

After that, there was a raffle of some books of John’s and other things, and when the party broke up, John was kept busy signing books and accepting good wishes from attendees.

We are all grateful to John for giving us such a great platform for writing and the memory of many events and good times that we have all shared in this group. And we wish him all the best in his new home, and hope that we will see him again in Japan before too long. May the good air of England and dear familiar faces and places help to heal him and give him more and other happy memories, to add to the ones he has collected in Japan all these years. We will miss him in so many ways, and will try our best to continue with the good work that he has begun in this group.

I’d like to add my own thanks to everyone who has brought Writers in Kyoto this far, and to emphasize that now, more than ever, we need support and help to bring WiK to new heights.

This time, owing to business and busy-ness, to sudden illnesses and overseas convalescence, we didn’t have some of our key members on hand, especially John Dougill, Kirsty, Karen, Jann, Ted, Julian, Cody, and others. We missed them. But to make up for this, we did have three or four new members who not only attended but also participated. Thanks to them for that and I hope their time as members of Writers in Kyoto is fruitful.

This time, instead of Words and Music, we had a book table with published works by various members and some people talking about their personal journeys to publication. Thanks very much to all who agreed to speak, including Daniel Sofer (his book “Empty Kyoto” is a photography book showing scenes of the city during the pandemic); Nathan Mader (poet from Canada, who introduced his book, “The Endless Animal”); Bruce Hamana, an Urasenke tea master who introduced two interesting books, “100 Beautiful Words in the way of Tea”, his little book of poetic names used in tea, and the more recent “Nihon no Koyomi”, a bilingual book about the 72 microseasons with lots of information; Taylor Mignon, who introduced several books and the one (“Visual Poetry of Japan”) he put out recently with the editing expertise of our own Webmaster, Rick Elizaga; Rick, who introduced the newly refurbished website of Writers in Kyoto, a labor of love which he performed last year along with Sara Ackerman Aoyama. (Please check out the changes and especially increased cross-referencing and tags, a monumental work still in progress; if you are a member, please consider adding to your profile page!); Felicity Tilllack, who spoke about her film, “Impossible to Imagine”, and the unique challenges of this type of publication; Pamela Asai, a new member who introduced her poetry books — and is also a painter; and James Woodham, who talked about his book “Japanese Tea Culture: the Omotesenke Tradition” and the monthly newsletter of Omotesenke, which he has been working on for many years.

We were also honored to see John Einarsen and Susan Pavloska of Kyoto Journal there, and John gave a short memorial talk for our beloved Ken Rodgers who passed away last November. A minute of silence was provided for us all to remember Ken and the various times he helped us and was always there with his humor and kindness. Recently, Eric Johnston has written an obituary for Ken in the Japan Times.

Altogether a fine evening. I would just like to mention a couple of things in passing.

First, we should have a book table at future events, including the Anthologies that we are proud to have compiled over the years. We should also ask authors (not just published ones, but anyone who writes or does other artistic endeavors, and loves their craft) to talk about their experiences, why they create what they create, their process and publishing hints etc., more often. Relatively famous authors grace our event schedule from time to time, and we are very grateful for them, but there are also the slightly more unsung people for whom writing, or other creating, and Kyoto, are very precious parts of their lives, and we should celebrate them all.

Also, I’d like to thank everyone who is associated with Writers in Kyoto for all they do, members and organizers alike. This year we celebrate our tenth anniversary, which sadly will be marked by the stepping down of our Founder, John Dougill. We are presently trying to figure out how to keep WiK going after the Era of John, and would appreciate any suggestions and help from members about this.

Best wishes for 2025 to all who help make Writers in Kyoto what it is.

PS: the sold books donations came to more than ¥3000. Thanks to all who participated.

On Friday, November 29, Eric Oey CEO of Tuttle Publishing and Periplus Bookstores, visited Kyoto for an informal chat on the state of the publishing industry at The Gnome on Kawaramachi. About seven WiK members attended.

Tuttle is a family-owned and family-operated business, which was founded in 1948 by Charles E. Tuttle to help bridge the understanding between Asia and the West, which he saw becoming important in the post-war years. The first Tuttle bookstore was located inside the Takashima-ya department store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. The bookstore was an immediate success among foreigners eager to learn more about Japan. Lines were long, and titles often sold out.

Charles Tuttle himself was a direct descendant of George Albert Tuttle, who founded a printing company in Rutland, Vermont in 1832. The company was sold some time after Charles’s death and passed out of family control.

But the book business runs deep in the Tuttle family DNA. While the Tuttle company was being managed by others, a Tuttle cousin named Eric Oey was independently building Periplus, his own empire of bookstores and bookstands, in Indonesia and Singapore. Periplus eventually became the leading bookstore chain in Indonesia, and successful enough to purchase Tuttle from its erstwhile owners, regaining family control and setting the stage for what one WiK member called a “miracle in motion.”

By global standards, Tuttle lies on the cusp between small and medium sized publishing firms, publishing about 100 new titles each year with a total staff of only 50 to 60 persons. But its near-dominant position in books on Asian literature, languages, and culture accords it an influence far above its nominal size. 

Evidencing the fact that Tuttle / Periplus is definitely a family-run business, Eric was accompanied by his wife Christina and his son Matt, who also work in the firm. The family feeling was enhanced when Christina brought a bag of Indonesian shrimp chips to share with all the guests. Matt is also gearing up to produce a series of podcasts on serious intellectual issues in economics and political science.

The Publishing Business

Eric is quite optimistic about the prospects of the publishing business. Book sales increased by double digits during the COVID pandemic, and single-digit growth has continued since then. For many reasons, books do not face the challenges that have decimated newspaper and magazine publishing.

Even bookstores seem to be reviving. After Amazon went online in 1995 and began subsidizing its book sales in order to build volume, many brick-and-mortar stores could not compete, and were forced to close. The list of casualties included venerable institutions like Stacey’s in San Francisco, as well as major chains like Borders, which was heavily leveraged into real estate and forced to file for Chapter 11 when real estate prices collapsed in the financial crisis of 2007/2008.

In terms of the general market for books, the e-book situation is worth paying attention to. Roughly 10% of book sales are e-books, but their market share does not appear to be increasing. Originally, e-books were priced much lower than paper copies, and sales jumped. But as the price gap narrowed to just a few dollars, and publication dates became essentially simultaneous, the advantages of the paper copy re-asserted themselves, and e-book sales plummeted.

Only a small percentage of the overall population read books frequently, but they tend to be highly committed, and are unlikely to leave a good bookstore empty-handed. Consequently, most book sales still happen via bookstores. Amazon accounts for only about one third of total book sales. The importance of the browsing experience is a key reason that bookstores have been making a comeback, in the form of modest but well-curated collections designed to enhance the browsing experience.

No online platform can yet match the feeling of being on a “treasure hunt” one gets while scanning the shelves for some previously undiscovered must-read item. Readers seeking a specific book, or something within a narrowly defined specialty area, are more likely to go online.

Small bookstores get a boost in their efforts from an unusual business practice in the industry — any and all books can be returned to the publisher if they don’t sell. The practice was initiated during times when books were hard to sell, as a way of encouraging bookstores to take more risks with their inventory, and that benefit continues to accrue, especially to small stores with limited access to capital.

Barnes and Noble is actually doing well under new CEO James Daunt, who came along from Waterstones in the merger of the two firms. New stores are being opened, and other well-known British chains, like Blackwell’s and Foyle’s, have been brought into the fold.

Meanwhile, Amazon is a “disruptor” in the truest sense of the word. It sells e-books at a loss, while paper titles, along with the rest of its merchandise, barely break even. Economically speaking, one could make the case that the entire company has evolved simply to build scale for its cloud-services platform AWS, which accounts for most of the company’s profits despite representing only a modest fraction of its revenues.

The Publishing Business in Asia

Tuttle is currently getting a boost from the fact that interest in Asia is increasing. Specific authors like Murakami have triggered such interest that Tuttle has brought out a series of manga based on Murakami’s stories. Korea has also become a hot topic area, in which Tuttle is well positioned.

A glance at the Tuttle catalog also demonstrates significant innovation in terms of what constitutes a “book,” as tie-ins like origami paper and coloring books are also well-represented.

Advice for Authors

Poetry, history, fiction huge now, Eric noted. In poetry, however, it’s the very well established poets who are getting attention, while younger, less-established poets continue to have challenges. As one member of the audience remarked, “Poetry is hot, but you need to be a dead poet.” Not very actionable advice for those of us who are still among the living!

The use of photos or other illustrations in a book remains a thorny issue. There seems to be an inherent bias in the West, and particularly in the English language market, that a book with illustrations is not quite a serious book, which means that sales to a certain core of the market are likely to be impeded. This bias, however, does not seem to be an issue for the rest of the world.

Within the realm of what an individual author can do to help boost their publication, the role of “influencers” needs to be carefully considered. Influencers, by definition, are media or online personalities whose recommendations are highly leveraged. Personality types vary across the spectrum, from Oprah to Joe Rogan, to specialists like financial podcaster Patrick Boyle. Rogan himself provided Tuttle with a vivid illustration of influencer power when he happened to mention Tuttle’s Japanese Death Poems in one of his podcasts, causing sales to spike immediately.

Influencers need to be courted, and the first step is finding out who they are. Going online and following the social media threads that are relevant to your topic is a good way to start. Once you start to indicate a targeted interest by interacting with posts on those threads, the algorithms will start to pick up on your area of focus and feed you more. Eventually, you will get a sense of which commentators matter — who is listened to, and who is respected.

Follow the influencers you wish to influence. Compliment them (knowledgeably, of course!) and send them review copies. Don’t be afraid to make the “ask” for an endorsement if you think it is reasonable.

The task of placing reviews follows a similar pattern. Identify the journals, magazines, and other periodicals where you would like to see a review. Learn about the reviewers, and make sure to send a review copy.

Once your book is published, make friends with the bookstore staff at any stores in your area. Tuttle’s experience is that shelf placement is a key factor in determining a book’s success. Good relationships with the bookstore staff will help you ensure effective placement.

When pitching a your book, it’s worth noting that publishers are always on the lookout for new book ideas. About half of Tuttle’s new titles every year come from proposals presented by authors whom Tuttle has not published before. But you may need to do some homework to present a convincing “business case.”

Start with a Title Information Sheet, which summarizes all the important information a publisher will want to know about your concept — title, author(s), short bio, synopsis, estimated page count, and anything you can say about sales potential.

How do you gauge sales potential? Make a list of a few established titles that are close enough to provide a basis for comparison, and determine the Amazon Best Seller Rank (BSR) for those titles. The BSR can be found in the details section of any Amazon listing. The overall BSR tracks a title against all books. A lower number indicates a more successful title, but don’t be surprised at numbers in the 100’s of thousands or even millions. Amazon will also typically provide BSR’s for one or more topic areas (e.g. “Japanese poetry”) which tend to be much smaller, and more accurate predictors of relative success within your chosen category.

Interpretation of the BSR is complicated, however — it is not a simple cumulative tally. Amazon applies its own analytic model in determining the BSR, and tracks each format (e.g. hardcover vs. trade paperback vs. mass-market paperback) separately. Recent sales are also overweighted. But at least you have a start in benchmarking the potential of your book.

Our valued Membership Secretary, Tina Tersini deBellegarde, came to Kyoto recently and had a launch of her most recent book (September 2024), Autumn Embers, which is set mostly in Kyoto and is the third in the mystery series, Batavia-on-the-Hudson. This series also includes previously published titles Winter Witness and Dead Man’s Leap, and has been nominated for the prestigious Agatha Award.

The launch included an interview with Felicity Tillack, and was attended by several key members of WiK as well as Tina’s cover illustrator, Elisa Tanaka, and others. (The following precis of the interview contains no direct quotes except where indicated.)

FT:  What is the book about?

TD:  It is the third in the series, the other two were set in the small fictitious village of Batavia-on-the-Hudson, and the plot revolves around a precious netsuke (ivory figurine) which was discovered by the widowed resident librarian/detective Bianca St. Denis, and she goes to Kyoto to return it as it was part of a valuable set. She also aims to reconnect with her son Ian, who has made his home in Kyoto, and while there she finds herself caught up in a murder mystery.

The theme is the need to find our “chosen family”, which may not necessarily be one’s birth family.

FT:   What is your other history of writing?

TD:  Well, I wrote journals all my life. I also wrote sone short stories. I was teaching (she was an American history and fine arts teacher in New York), and when I retired I decided to try my hand at a novel.

FT:   Please explain your idea of geography/location as a character.

TB:   The fictitious small town where the series is set is similar to my present situation. I feel it is important for the reader to “be there when I read”. I walk around a lot and get ideas for plots from the places and people I see.

FT:   Please talk about your writing process.

TD:   I think I am influenced by Anne Tyler. I base my characters on their location. And I try to write sparingly but give readers enough to base their understanding on.

FT:   Can you talk about the characters in the book?

TD:   Well, my main character is Bianca St. Denis, and she lives in the small town but has come from outside; there is a possibility for a fresh view. She also “helps” the local law enforcement, as the small town atmosphere, where people know each other personally, allows a breakdown of “rules and regulations”. I also want to emphasize that the characters are fictional! But I will admit that writing this has allowed me to come to terms and better understand my own son’s life in Kyoto.

FT:   How did you decide on this title?

TD:   Fire is a major theme in the book. Bianca is fascinated by the fire festivals she attends in Kyoto, and the last scene, where the “chosen family” and friends gather around a bonfire, is pivotal in summing up the theme of the book. I wanted to convey warmth which I feel is expressed by the term “embers”.

FT:   The book has actually two locales — Kyoto and Batavia-on-the-Hudson. How did you manage that?

TD:   Well, it took some juggling especially with differences in time zones.

FT:   Share some other challenges in writing.

TD:   It was hard to write about things close to home, for example, saying goodbye at the airport; I also learned a lot about what family is from writing.

“Make your own home, and choose your own family”.

FT:   Do you do writing practice at all?

TD:   Not regularly. I am very disciplined when I’m actually writing, and I appreciate being under pressure e.g. with deadlines.

FT:   Do you have other books in the works?

TD:  I think there are other books to come in this series. I also like short stories and am continuing to write these.

FT:   Any advice for writers?

TD:   Just keep trying and stretching what you think you are capable of.

A Q&A followed this interview.

Q:    Why mysteries?

A:    I wanted to write a lighter kind of mystery, not a hard-boiled kind. I found I could hang subplots on a mystery theme. I am very grateful for the support groups I found.

Q:    Writing process?

A:    I start by writing out the plot in longhand, and then go to putting Post-it notes on a white board, of which I have lots all over my house!

I also write with later books in mind — I’ll often make a character do or say something that will be taken up in the future.

Q:    What about drafts?

A:     I do revise and often will remove characters or incidents. I aim for tighter writing.

Q:    How has having your son in Kyoto influenced this book?

A:     I wanted to explore such things as the “normalcy” of life in the US vs. that of Japan, the differences in ways of being. I also used some of my own experiences to get ideas for the mother’s dialog with her son Ian.

Thanks to Felicity Tillack for the interview.

We will follow your career with interest, Tina, thanks so much for having this event and for talking to us in person!

Watch this space for a review of the book coming up!

Five short talks were delivered by Kyoto-based scholars including Cody Poulton, a member of Writers in Kyoto. All five scholars are variously published both in academia and popular works, and each talk was interestingly illustrated by PowerPoint slides. Present were many members of WiK, friends and volunteer staff members of KJ and participants in CIEE’s study abroad program.

Since its inauguration 1,230 years ago, in AD 794, Kyoto has been central to Japan’s cultural heritage. Each speaker talked about their research specialization and, though they clearly could have talked much longer, gave interesting historical, cultural and social vignettes of this beloved city:

Religious Performance: Combinatory Liturgies in Medieval Kyoto
Lucia Dolce of Venice, London and the Netherlands, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, spoke about the medieval period when temples and shrines had not yet been divided, and about various rituals that brought good fortune by venerating gods or appeased vengeful spirits and guarded against misfortune. She cited ceremonies that are still performed today, particularly associated with Enryakuji, Yasaka Shrine and the Gion Festival．
See Lucia Dolce’s page on the School of Oriental and African Studies website.

Zeami & Okuni: Kyoto and the Founders of Noh & Kabuki
Cody Poulton, formerly of the University of Victoria (B.C.), and now at the Kyoto Consortium of Japanese Studies—and a valued member of Writers in Kyoto—showed his considerable expertise in the performing arts of Kyoto, describing vividly the beginnings of Noh, and the emergence of Kabuki on the Kamo riverbed, a summertime venue for many different types of performance. He particularly spoke about the Japanese aesthetic of yugen 幽玄 (mystery, grace, awe, wordlessness) which is so much a part of the performing arts, especially Noh.
See more about Cody Poulton on the Writers in Kyoto site and in this podcast with Amy Chavez at Books on Asia.

Leisure Travel to Kyoto in the Early Edo Period
Timon Screech, formerly of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, now at Nichibunken, Kyoto’s International Research Center for Japanese Studies, talked about the interest of Edo (Tokyo) people in the city of Kyoto, and the guidebooks, illustrations, etc., and even the building of facsimile buildings which fueled this interest during the Edo period, also touching on the riverside entertainment scene in Kyoto. At that time, foreigners (mostly Dutch merchants) were restricted to the port of Dejima in Kyushu, but once a year a delegation was allowed to stop by Kyoto on their way back from paying their respects to the Shogun in Edo, a custom which may have represented Kyoto inhabitants’ earliest experiences of Caucasian visitors.
Timon provided the lead article in KJ 107 (Fire & Kyoto).

Festivals and Pageants in the Making of Modern Kyoto
John Breen, also at Nichibunken, specializing in Japanese history, focused on the major contribution made to the modernization of Meiji-period Kyoto by courtier and statesman Iwakura Tomomi, including his role in the establishment of Heian Jingu, as a symbol of Kyoto’s imperial heritage, and the Jidai Matsuri, which commemorates the city’s many successive historical eras. Iwakura is best known for his role as plenipotentiary ambassador leading the Iwakura Mission, which spent nearly two years (1871-1873) in the U.S. and Europe and laid the foundation of many important Meiji period reforms.    

John edited Kyoto’s Renaissance, comprehensively reviewed here.
See also, his profile on John Dougill’s Green Shinto site.

Occupation and Post-War Tourism In Kyoto
Daniel Milne is Senior Lecturer at Kyoto University’s Institute for Liberals Arts and Sciences (ILAS, focusing on “the modern history of tourism in Japan and Kyoto, and the political and cultural role the discourses and spaces of tourism have played in war, occupation, and reconciliation.” His talk brought closure to the night’s wide-ranging topics, revealing how Kyoto has since the mid-nineteenth century developed and evolved its reputation as Japan’s primary cultural attraction for domestic and overseas visitors.

Daniel is a member of the Modern Kyoto Research team, which maintains an informative online resource at www.modernkyotoresearch.org. In 2019, Daniel co-edited “War, Tourism, and Modern Japan,” a special issue of Japan Review. 

David Satterwhite of Temple University briefly summed up the presentations; unfortunately time was too tight to allow the intended Q&A session. Nevertheless, the event was a valuable opportunity for attendees to learn more about various fields of interest in Kyoto’s rich, unique and world-renowned heritage.

The next event in this series will be held in December. Details will be announced in November.

Nathan’s reading from his book included a poem written from the perspective of one of the first two monkeys to return from space, one about hiding in a Whirlpool dryer, and references to putting cherry blossoms, and various other things, in one’s mouth, because, “Isn’t the desire to put the world in your mouth the origin of poetry?”

The event was held on a Friday evening, October 18, 2024, at the Kyoto International Community House (Kokoka) in the beautiful and spacious Japanese annex. 

After reading some poems, Nathan took a few questions and explained that his collection of about 40 poems was written over the last 10 years. The title, “The Endless Animal,” was taken from the body of one of his poems and was chosen in part because looking over his work he saw that animals were a consistent theme.

Asked if the work felt different now that it is published in a book, Nathan said that he felt a kind of grief that he could no longer tweak the poems at will. 

About 20 people attended the event, including some of Nathan’s relatives from Saskatchewan, Canada. A handful of WiK members were there, two of whom took a turn to present poetry. Julian Holmes read from “Waking to Snow,” by Robert McLean. Kirsty Kawano read an original piece. Another poetry lover and a more “poetry-curious” attendee also presented some works.

Nathan’s publisher, fine. press (fineperiodpress.com) funded the evening, which included refreshments. 

Writers in Kyoto Event, July 27, 2024

This event, taking place in a blessedly cool classroom of Ryukoku University Omiya Campus, showcased Susan Ito, author of I Would Meet You Anywhere, a memoir of her youth as a bicultural Japanese-American who was adopted by Japanese-American parents and grew up in New Jersey. (See below for more information on the book, which recently was a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Award.)

Susan Ito, a teacher of writing and now at Mills College/Northeastern University, this year taught a summer program (“Food in Japan”) through the university at various locations in Japan, including Tokyo, Fukui, and Kyoto. Her students (international) read from their writings completed during the course, many of which were restaurant reviews. Suzanne Kamata, a noted writer of fiction (her most recent published novel is Cinnamon Beach, soon to be reviewed by WiK) and other genres, and member of Writers in Kyoto, collaborated with her in the online journal Literary Mama, and after the student readings, they talked together about Susan Ito’s book and life. Susan also read some sections from her book. The event closed with a question-and-answer session.

Thanks are due to Paul Carty and Ryukoku University for making the venue available, and to all who attended from Ryukoku and from Writers in Kyoto.

I Would Meet You Anywhere by Susan Ito (Ohio State University Press, 2023)
Finalist for National Book Critic Circle Award

Susan described her book, which spans several decades and takes in the realities of adoption and the Japanese concentration camps in America during WWII, as “a search for truth.” It is reviewed by Suzanne Kamata in Goodreads in part as follows: “The memoir reads like the most gripping of novels, and would be of interest to anyone interested in adoption, motherhood, Japanese culture, and what it’s like to be biracial.” It’s definitely all of that, and also would appeal to “anyone who has felt rootless, questioned their place within their family, or longed for deeper self-understanding” (cover blurb by Nicole Chung).

That’s a pretty broad spectrum of appeal. It would certainly extend to those who have struggled to be part of a Japanese family by marriage, or to anyone who felt rootless when living long-term in another country, or to those who know who their parents were but don’t know anything about previous generations, for example never having met their grandparents on one side or the other. Everyone has experienced past loss, and everyone has holes in the fabric of their family, whether “actual”, adopted, or in-laws by marriage. Thus this book tells an extreme version of a story that many of us, especially in this time of the world, can relate to.

Susan’s story, one of being mixed race by birth (Japanese and American) and also adopted by parents who themselves had their own questions of identity (Japanese-Americans), is a heroic search for self, exhaustively researched and written over many years. Particularly referencing her search for, and finally meeting with, her birth mother, and also dealing with her complicated emotions surrounding her adoptive parents, and with Japanese culture that is both foreground and background, it is also a complex story, full of emotional twist and turns and many heartrending anecdotes.

In the preface to the book, she describes it as “a story which holds a secret at its core” and also says “The risk of telling the story comes at a great cost, but the cost of not telling it is equally painful.” She is also careful to point out that this is not an autobiography per se, but deals with only one facet of her many-faceted life.

Written by a person who has done a lot of work in order to come to grips with her own story, this book is an inspiration to everyone, but particularly (I would suggest) writers.

1) Yasuo Nagai

2) Eleanor Yamaguchi

3) John Dougill

4) James Woodham

5) Jann Williams

6) Rebecca Otowa

7) Mayumi Kawaharada

8) Mary Louise Nakata

9) Ken Rodgers

10) Kirsty Kawano

Videos by Rick Elizaga.

Long-term member Allen Weiss has a particular interest in the aesthetics of Kyoto, a city which he considers his second home. A lecturer and researcher for New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, he counts amongst his specialities aesthetic and performance theory; experimental performance; landscape architecture; gastronomy; and sound art. He has written several books touching on Kyoto, and his new publication is inspired by the city. For an account of a previous talk for WiK, please see here and for more about his books click here or here. To learn more about Robert Yellin’s gallery, see here.

Talk with Author Simon Rowe at David Duff’s home, April 14, 2024

Nine people gathered to listen to Simon Rowe talk about his phenomenal success in publishing and other things on April 14 in Kyoto. Thanks very much to David Duff for opening his home/library once again for an event. Due to the absence (by illness) of John Dougill, we didn’t have an emcee, but I asked Simon if he needed formal introductions etc. and he said no, so the talk proceeded in a very casual way, with participants inserting questions and comments throughout.

As most people probably know, Simon is a New Zealander by birth and also spent a lot of time in Australia (Melbourne)。This childhood, as well as access to National Geographic magazine, gave him a curiosity about the world and a sense of adventure. He became a travel writer with many articles to his credit in various publications, traveling and writing handwritten notes and taking slides with an SLR camera. He was successful, especially during the Bubble economic period when there was a lot of venture capital floating around and publishers were buying articles in bulk. He emphasized the importance of “hustle”, and said that if one thing goes right (you get a “break”) it gives you the confidence to follow it up and more things start to come in.

He also said that the effect of the Internet has been that travel writing as a literary form has declined due to the “information dump” of YouTube etc. with everyone getting into the act, and it is important to have an angle (“spin”) which makes popular places look different. He also stressed the importance of authenticity in writing, and the trust that the writer knows his milieu (cultural, literary, etc.) makes the reader engage with fiction that may have something unfamiliar about it.

Simon segued into his experiences creating the character of Mami Suzuki, first in Pearl City (2020) and now in his new successful Mami Suzuki, Private Eye (Penguin 2023), who is a detective with a day job in a large hotel in Kobe, a single mother who lives with her mother and daughter. (See review, below.) He described his difficulties with people in the US who were concerned about cultural appropriation and wondered why a foreign man was writing about a Japanese female protagonist. However, due to his years in Japan (presently in Himeji) he knows what he is talking about in this culture, and in the case of the latter book he got a cover blurb from a female Japanese author in the detective genre, Naomi Hirahara, which was like a “seal of approval” which negated murmurs of cultural appropriation etc.

 Interestingly, the literary festivals in India where he recently took this character and book were delighted with Mami Suzuki and were not the least bit concerned with cultural appropriation. In fact he found himself very busy traveling around the country and attending various literary festivals and was enthusiastically received everywhere. His agent is an Indian lady in Bangalore who arranged for a lawyer to oversee (and edit) his publishing contract with Penguin books. (Penguin had taken a couple of years to get back to him about publishing his book, but eventually did.) Unfortunately, Penguin did not pay for his trip to India, but the contacts he made were worth it.

Some advice from Simon about the publishing world – bullet points I wrote down:

• Importance of contracts and agents – to get help with this side of things and to keep things on an unemotional (business) plane
• Contacting famous people for favors – they can only say no, and may say yes. Help becomes mutual once one has contacts.
• “Catching the wave”, feel the energy and always keep putting more in
• Royalties for books are NOT equivalent to your effort, don’t rely on them

He now is negotiating for film rights. We will eagerly follow his successes from now on.

Happily, Simon knows his way around Japan so didn’t require help with transport, etc. There were still a few people there talking to him when the meeting broke up around 6:15pm.

Thanks very much to Simon for taking the time to give us this very interesting talk.

REVIEW of Mami Suzuki, Private Eye (Penguin, 2023) by Simon Rowe

On the cover of this book, it is written, “From the Kobe wharfs to the rugged Japan Sea coast, the subtropics of Okinawa, and a remote island community in the Seto Inland Sea, each new adventure ends with a universal truth – that there are two sides to every story of misfortune.” I resonate with this, as my own short stories often invite readers to witness epiphanies in the lives of the protagonists; and to arrive at an understanding of why they acted and thought as they did.

We first met Mami Suzuki as the detective in “Pearl City”, the first story in the collection Pearl City – Stories from Japan and Elsewhere (2020) and this story, with very slight changes, comprises the first part of Mami Suzuki – Private Eye. The author said that it provided the inspiration for the writing of the novel, due to the great positive feedback he received, particularly from female readers. This detective must find her way through the distractions of single motherhood, living with her young daughter and aging mother (who sometimes accompany her on her travels), consoling herself with a beer late at night as she mulls over her cases, which have come to her by word of mouth and which she solves in the moments she has free between her job as a hotel clerk in Kobe and the demands of her personal life.

Simon said to me, “Mami Suzuki is a ‘quiet’ read, and though the mysteries themselves aren’t that hard to solve, they place a lens over the human condition – a whydunit rather than a whodunnit”. I myself appreciated the compassionate tone of Simon’s writing in this and other works. This is not a “hard-boiled” detective novel with a body count. It is easy to imagine these “crimes” being perpetrated by ordinary human beings, who had pressing reasons for doing as they did. It is not the usual detective story, in which “right triumphs” as the criminal is brought to justice; it is much more complex than that.

Mami Suzuki has human problems and distractions. She is also appreciative of the finer things of life, from a good shot of whisky to designer clothes, as she juggles the mundane details of her life, and there is even a tanned, middle-aged fisherman to provide romantic interest and with whom she bounces the case details around. The stories move at a peaceful pace, with many small details sprinkled over the scenes, bringing them to vivid life and pointing up the author ‘s easy familiarity with the settings.

Mami Suzuki – Private Eye is a story which calls to mind travel writing at its best – it can transport you to many places, including a pearl-sorter’s workstation or the precincts of a sunlit shrine garden, and make the reader feel at home in all of them.

For Simon Rowe’s numerous works on the Writers in Kyoto website, please see this link.

Four guests from WiK were guided by fellow member Bruce Hamana (Hamana Sosei sensei), a tea master born in Hawaii, and teacher of the Urasenke tea school, to a New Year’s celebratory tea gathering at Tenki, a large and sumptuous tempura restaurant near Senbon Imadegawa, Kyoto, which has a garden and tea house complex. Bruce had been supervising and making tea all day there with his students, one of whom, Minami Okawa, joined us in the tea room as Bruce’s assistant.

 Bruce has worked at Urasenke in various capacities for years, and has served as an ambassador around the world, demonstrating and explaining tea. He now has various groups of students and also “teaches the teachers” how to explain about tea in English. He is the author of 100 Beautiful Words in the Way of Tea (Tankosha 2020), an English guide to poetic seasonal names and expressions used in the tearoom, with plenty of information about them. He is presently working on a book about the 72 Japanese micro-seasons.

We were led through the garden, replete with winter beauty, briefly into another room, to view a traditional New Year decoration which replaced the more usual kagami-mochi with large pieces of charcoal, and had many other symbolic features including the daidai citrus fruit, whose name can also mean “from generation to generation” and signifies the continuation of life and tradition, bridging the New Year period to the next year. A preliminary treat was the serving of hanabira-mochi, a special New Year sweet made with burdock root and miso, many tastes at once, which is particular to Urasenke.  

Purifying ourselves at the tsukubai, a small stone basin, in the garden, we entered the tearoom in the traditional manner through the nijiriguchi, a small square door which must be crawled through, meaning that social differences drop away, and inside the tea room everyone is equal. Bruce had thoughtfully provided small stools for us to sit on, so we did not have to endure the discomfort of the more traditional floor posture known as seiza. This was very considerate, but gave me a stab of regret that due to uncooperative knees, I was no longer able to participate in a tea gathering in the usual way, including receiving the bowl of tea and viewing the utensils afterward, which were difficult from stool level. Bruce and his students were very friendly and caring, allowing us, even though we were not sitting on the floor as is customary, to participate with a few little changes and enjoy ourselves to the full.

The room was small and intimate, and very dim, which made a pleasant change from the brightly-lit environments of everyday. Bruce made the tea with very little fuss, speaking about various things, including instructing us on what to do, not so much the order of the ceremony, which was obviously for him secondary to putting the guests at ease and answering questions. It was a treat for me to watch such an unobtrusive tea ceremony without the usual “Sensei, what do I do now?” which is prevalent in tea classes. Bruce’s mastery allowed us to feel peaceful, and chased away any feeling of being nervous because of unfamiliarity with the procedure. He led us with a gentle and sure hand through the intricacies of being guests at a tea gathering.

The tokonoma was decorated with a camellia bud and shuttlecock-shaped plant in a Chinese formal metal vase, and sweeping branches of willow, one of which was tied in a loose knot. The scroll had the four characters of wakei seijaku (harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility) – characteristics not only of tea, but of traditional Japanese culture as a whole.  The tea was made in front of a formal old-style cabinet, which had a decoration of writing materials on top. We guests were charmed with the serving of dry sweets in small folded boxes, celebratory red and gold in color, and with the variety of interesting bowls in which we received the tea, a few mouthfuls of hot, bubbly moss-green matcha.

After drinking the tea (with some second serves!), the conversation turned to Bunraku, the puppet theatre, where Minami-san works, and she told us of a possible tour of the backstage which may be offered to WiK members later in the year. Watch this space!

Special thanks to Hamana sensei for allowing us to share in this special day, and also to Kirsty Kawano, who helped organize WiK’s participation. It was a telling reminder that there are many ways to experience Kyoto’s beauty, and that Writers in Kyoto is home to many talented people who, not only by writing but in other ways, widen the horizons of all who seek to share this beauty.

Pulling open the door to Irish Pub Gnome at six o’clock on December 10th, I found the basement pub already filled with writers, readers, singers, and listeners gathered for the Writers in Kyoto Words & Music bōnenkai.

I left my daypack on an empty chair, and joined the line at the bar, studying the food and drink menu, while those ahead of me placed their orders for Guinness and shepherd’s pie, red wine and vegetable gratin.

At six-thirty, Kirsty Kawano, the event’s organizer and MC, welcomed a packed house and introduced the first presenter, John Dougill.

John read a section from his recently published book, Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan. He recounted his early days in Kanazawa, and when he described his early missteps with Japanese language and culture, some of us recalled our own first stumbles in the country.

One of two presenters in the evening who chose music over words, Yasuo Nagai sang a cappella an original song of his about the power which memories have on us — those memories that haunt and hold us.

From They Never Knew, Mike Freiling read senryū written in 1942 by Japanese Americans who were being held in a detention center in Portland, Oregon, awaiting transfer to permanent camps. Depicting the anxiety the writers felt, the poems also were occasionally humorous.

Having chosen to stay in Kyoto when international borders closed due to the pandemic, Daniel Sofer told us how he began to take photos of the tourist-free city which were then compiled in Empty Kyoto. He shared text and photos from his book.

On the Irish pub’s upright piano, Malcolm Ledger played a piece he had recently composed and which was warmly received and applauded. He invited the audience to take a look at his YouTube channel for more of his music.

During the break, WiK members lined up at the bar to order another glass of red wine or pint of Guinness, and mingled, catching up with friends and making new ones until Kirsty announced the start of the second set.

James Woodham traveled from Shiga to join the bōnenkai, and he read poems inspired by a wide range of topics, from reading Sylvia Plath to a late night out in Kyoto to drones. His advice to us was to “empty the mind and write down what comes out.

Ken Rodgers’ reading about taking part in Wesak at Kurama-dera was a preview of a piece written for Kyoto Journal 107 (Fire & Kyoto), which will be published in the spring of 2024, in print. Before that, however, a digital issue on cultural transformations, KJ 106, will be created.

Mayumi Kawaharada read in English, her haiku adorned with awe-inspiring natural imagery — “rain’s golden strings” and “bell cricket chorus.” My personal favorite (and this is a guess at the line breaks) was — “Two vapor trails glow / in the clear blue sky / New Year’s.”

Playing cajón and soprano saxophone, Ted Taylor and Gary Tegler performed jazz improvisations built on the seasonal song “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Ted also read from his writings about how he’d come to Japan following in the fictional footsteps of the character Japhy Ryder in Dharma Bums.

Although the microphone was offered to anyone else wanting to read or sing, no one took the offer, and instead tabs were settled, contact info exchanged, and promises made to read or sing at the next Words & Music event, and I left the pub to make my way home through the December night.

********************

A round of applause goes to Kirsty Kawano for organizing the event and ensuring that it ran smoothly. Also thanks to the owners of Irish Pub Gnome, Yuko and Tatsuya Shirasaka, and to their serving staff, including Joseph Wright. And a special thanks goes to those WiK members who volunteered to share with us their words and music.

Excerpts from the following books were read at December’s Words & Music:
John Dougill, Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan: A Journey by Train from Hokkaido to Kyushu
Mike Freiling, They Never Knew: Senryu Poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center
Daniel Sofer, Empty Kyoto

John Dougill’s latest book, Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan: A Journey by Train from Hokkaido to Kyushu, was launched in Kyoto on Sunday November 19. The event was held at Irish Pub Gnome, with music by Quin Arbeitman on piano, and 35 guests in attendance, including Writers in Kyoto members and other friends.

After people mingled for some time, John Dougill was warmly introduced by WiK treasurer, Paul Carty. “John calls himself a loner,” he said, “yet there is no-one with a greater network of friends.” (John is protesting heartily at this point, and the audience laughs at his protests.) “Not only that,” continues Paul, “but when you read the book, John is always engaging with people, and that’s where this book is really powerful. He travels from the north to the south of Japan, listening to people, and just as Walt Whitman heard America sing, John heard Japan talking, and he has captured the humanity of the people in a very beautiful way.”

John himself then gave a short speech and then read from passages from the book on Mt. Rishiri in the chapter on Wakkanai, and the tale of Tama the cat in the section A Brief History of Japan’s Railways. John was seriously ill last winter, and it had looked uncertain as to whether he would see this day at all. Not only was he “glad to be here,” but “frankly I’m glad to be anywhere,” he said in his speech to laughter, channeling Keith Richards. He also publicly thanked Paul Carty for his support throughout his illness, and also for Paul’s help with the book.

Another reason that the book is very dear to the author is because it is his most personal. In his previous writing (college textbooks, books about Oxford, film, Japanese culture and so on), he had refrained from such personal writing. This time he felt free to express himself and had intended to self-publish, but was delighted that the publisher, Stone Bridge Press, agreed to take it up. They urged him to add extra information to appeal to train enthusiasts, and did a wonderful job on the design.

I felt that this was not just a book launch, it was a celebration of life. It could also be seen as one of the good things to result from the Corona restrictions to overseas travel. The account of the long journey from Japan’s far north to the deep south runs on parallel tracks – past and present, fact and contemplation, social commentary and humour, erudition and passing thought. Not surprisingly all copies of the book at the launch were sold and signed. It was good to see, and now it is launched it is sure to win attention in the highly competitive world of travel literature.

**********************

Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan is now on sale through amazon.com and amazon.jp. For a review by Rebecca Otowa, see here. For other reviews, see the amazon page and scroll down past the endorsement by Alex Kerr (“I know of no Japan journey that is so full of joy as this one.”)

************************

Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan is available through amazon and in leading bookshops in Japan (Kinokuniya and Maruzen). For a review by Rebecca Otowa, please click here. For other reviews see amazon or goodreads.

Though billed as a maple-viewing party, the event was more of a socialising and networking occasion. The maples this year are simply not so pretty this year. Far from being spectacular in red, they are a rather dirty brown. The cause is said to lie in the heat of summer and a lack of water, weakening the trees’ capacity to produce the usual effect.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the lack of maple splendour led to more time for drinking and eating the generous pot-luck selections. As well as a short outing along the stream that runs past the remarkable rocky open basement, the occasion provided an opportunity for Rebecca Otowa to tell the group of her latest publication, a labour of love detailing the many fascinating objects in her venerable old house. Thanks to her, and a big thank you to Malcolm.

*****************

To see a review of Rebecca’s book, please click here.
Malcolm was the winner of this year’s Japan Local Prize for “Plum Tree by the Eaves”, depicting an ancient tree which embodies the sophistication and elegance of the Heian Period. For pictures of Malcolm’s house and the glorious maples of 2020, please see this report by Felicity Tillack. For Malcolm’s prose and poetry, please run a search on this website.

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 I think of Japan,’ he writes, ‘the first thing that comes to mind is the symphony of colorful leaves during fall.’

Robert lives in Luxembourg, and at an informal gathering at Ted Taylor’s house he disclosed that he is fluent in five European languages. As well as the Luxembourg language, he knows German, French, English and Italian. Given that, and his prolific writing, it comes as a surprise to learn that he is a scientist by profession. A paleontologist who is also a poet.

Robert’s poetic side has resulted in a self-published collection entitled, A Tiny Nature, and he read out several of his which spoke to “the heart of things’. For his reading, Robert selected poems about the spirit of place in some of Kyoto’s special ‘power spots’, such as Kiyotaki. Robert’s aim in the collection was to make his readers see ‘the beauty within’. He also talked of his liking for bonsai, and what caring for the diminutive creations means to him. Not so much a matter of gardening, but a practical way of appreciating Japanese values.

Though Robert lives in Luxembourg, he actively pursues his life-long fascination with Japan and has made eleven visits so far. This time he was involved with Shugendo contacts. Evidence of his close connection with the country came last year when he organised an exhibition for Luxembourg’s national museum on Japan’s engagement with the environment, which featured several WiK members. His next visit to Japan is scheduled for 2025. We look forward to hearing him again, and whatever project his Japanophilia inspires him to next.

About the author:
Robert Weis works as a natural scientist, and nature is also at the core of his non-fiction and poetry writing. In 2022 he published, together with Davide S. Sapienza, the travelogue Rocklines — a Geopoetic Journey Across Minett Unesco Biosphere (Editions Phi, Luxembourg). He is a contributor to Luxembourgish travel magazine Diariesof, the French Japanophile magazine Ryoko and Japan-based Kyoto Journal as well as Writers in Kyoto anthologies. His first poetry volume, Rêves d’un mangeur de kakis (Michikusa Publishing) came out in January 2023. In summer 2023, the travel narrative Retour à Kyoto (Editions Transboréal) was released. Visit him at www.theroutetokyoto.com.

**************

For his article on bonsai, see here. For an excerpt from the self-published volume A tiny nature – recollections of poems and trees (August 2023), available from Amazon, click here.

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.

Marc’s presentation focused on the nine books he has written, plus the three books he is currently working on. As well as being published by the two leading Japan specialists, Tuttle and Stone Bridge Press, he has also self-published books, being adept at computers and design. His publications on Japanese gardens, such as The Art of Setting Stones, have won worldwide acclaim not only for their insight into the aesthetics involved, but for the quality of the language. Given his work with translations of Japanese garden poetry, it was understandable that he is branching out himself into literary writing.

Remarkably, Marc told us he is currently working on three books at the same time. One has to do with bonsai, one to do with how we name things of the world, and one an ambitious work of fiction on the theme of empathy. All three sounded appealing, but the one about naming was the most intriguing, coming over as a charming folk tale with an Alan Watts message negating the notion of separation and asserting oneness with the environment. Question and answer followed over coffee, when it became clear that Marc wrote neither for money or fame but for the love of writing. It is fair to say that readers of his books get to be the beneficiaries.

The Japan Writers Conference 2023

This year’s Japan Writers Conference was held at Sugiyama Jogakuen University in Nagoya on October 14-15. Presentation topics ranged from English-teaching textbooks to budging writer’s block, using technology, and building fantasy worlds. The conference covered a lot of genres and offered a lot of inspiration and motivation for writers to not only continue their work, but also to expand it. You can see details about the conference here.

Throughout the weekend there were usually three choices of presentations, with one room dedicated to poetry. The more popular presentations tended to have around 40 participants, and considering that presenters were advised to prepare about 15 handouts if they were using them, it seems that this year’s conference was particularly well attended.

All presenters were friendly, open and generous, often sharing their contact details with the audience. This atmosphere was true for all participants and there was a lot of networking and information-sharing. Some of that took place at the Saturday night conference dinner. The sole WiK presenter was Suzanne Kamata whose talk was entitled, “This is the Best Book I’ve Ever Read: Some Thoughts on Endorsements”. She also had a quality-rich section in the book room of presenters’ publications.

One of the topics that was mentioned multiple times during the conference was self-publishing, with some of the presenters choosing to release their books that way. One reason given for that decision was that their book profits go straight to them rather than to a publisher. It was surprising to hear of someone making good money from self-publishing, but author Hildred Billings says that is what she does. She describes writing as her small business and writes to meet the needs of her market, which is lesbian romance fiction—fans of which expect a title each month. She uses Amazon Kindle direct publishing and was one of the writers who noted that Kindle Unlimited pays per word that is read.

Billings’ presentation was on making money in independent publishing, which she says requires meeting the needs of three areas; 1) book packaging, which is the cover, blurb and editing; 2) cultivating one’s readership, through Facebook, other social media and newsletters; 3) networking, such as attending the conference.

Even if you never envisage your own writing as a money-making venture, as an event for writers the JWC acts as a venue where people who see wonder in the world gather—and that’s good for the soul.

Those who are familiar with the JWC will know that John Gribble, who was the head organizer for 15 years, has passed the baton to Kartika Lestari. As of the end of the conference, the venue for next year was still undecided. It is held around the same time each year, usually at a different venue each time.

Writers in Kyoto member Felicity Tillack, a writer, director and cinematographer, held a screenwriting workshop for WiK members late last month, in which she offered far more than writing tips.

Tillack candidly shared insight based on her own experience, and allowed the audience a look at the nuts and bolts of writing a script and then turning it into an independent film. The event gave attendees a look into another world, which challenged our preconceptions of filmmaking. At least I know it challenged mine.

Her workshop came shortly before the debut of Tillack’s latest project, Dis/Connected, a bilingual series of short episodes – some of them musical – exploring how technology can both bridge and fracture human connections, through the interactions of its four characters. A new episode is released each day on Instagram, starting this month.

Tillack began the workshop by asking participants to go around the room and write their answers to various questions, such as how film is different from/similar to other genres, what is needed to make a film, etc. She then passed out copies of actual film scripts – her own, as well as others written by both amateurs and professionals – and we broke into smaller groups to discuss them before everyone reassembled to share our observations and questions with each other.

Here’s a true confession: most of what I knew about the film industry, I learned from living in Los Angeles for about five years in the mid-1990s. Almost everyone I encountered there, from my dentist to the woman who rang up my groceries, seemed to be involved in film in some way – auditioning for roles, trying to get people at studios to read their treatments, pitching ideas to whoever would listen. Our next-door neighbor was a visual effects artist, and we watched the credits at the end of Titanic to see his name among thousands of others. Even so-called “low-budget indie” films seemed to require funding equal to some small countries’ annual GDP, so I came to believe that it was impossible to make any kind of film without first raising a significant chunk of cash.

To my surprise, Tillack told us that her 2019 debut feature film, Impossible to Imagine, was made for around a million yen. (See the review by Jann Williams.) Tillack showed clips from it at her workshop, and summarized it for those of us (including me) who had not seen it.

Ami Shimizu, played by Yukiko Ito, is a Kyoto woman struggling to keep her late mother’s kimono rental shop afloat. She hires Hayato Arai, a biracial Japanese business consultant played by William Yagi Lewis, to give her advice on how to attract some of the foreign tourists thronging to the city. The two develop a romantic connection despite their different backgrounds and experiences. The film takes its title from Ami’s inability to picture any kind of shared life together with Hayato, despite their strong feelings for each other.

A few weeks after Tillack’s event, I watched Impossible to Imagine with my 21-year old biracial son, who grew up mostly in Tokyo. We both enjoyed it, and recognized some of the Kyoto locations. I was happy to hear him say he didn’t share most of the Arai character’s identity problems of being caught between two worlds and not fitting in anywhere. But my son said he recognizes that his life might have been quite different had he grown up in a more conservative part of Japan – such as Kyoto, where he’s made countless trips over the years to visit his paternal grandparents.

A native of Australia, Tillack now lives in Kyoto herself after stints in several other cities since she moved to Japan in 2006. She started creating videos in 2012 for her Youtube channel “Where Next Japan” before she turned to making documentaries, which led her into other kinds of filmmaking.

While her successful projects were surely built on her many years of hard work and persistence, Tillack’s WiK workshop demystified many aspects of filmmaking for me, and made it look…well, perhaps still not easy, but certainly possible.

*********************

Impossible to Imagine can be viewed on Amazon Japan. A version with English subtitles is available on Vimeo (click here) or Tubi (click here).

For a listing of Felcity Tillack’s articles and films from 2015-2020, see her Kansai Scene page.

See also her report of a Leza Lowitz talk on Fukushima.

Writers in Kyoto member and AI professional Mike Freiling shared his knowledge of ChatGPT in a Zoom presentation on August 20, 2023. The sheer speed at which ChatGPT’s capabilities are evolving is a concern for writers, and even people involved in the development of AI are asking for regulations to direct the technology’s extreme pace of advancement into unchartered waters. The implications of ChatGPT are something we all need to think about, says Mike; “It will affect everyone on the planet sooner or later.”

Mike gave an overview of how ChatGPT has been developed and the parameters that can be used when operating it. The program has been trained on up to 300 billion words. In addition to the data we know about (books, websites, etc.) its training set also includes some data “specifically engineered by human trainers.” What this last category is has not been revealed and it raises questions about the altruism of the tool. It has already been used to create fake financial and legal documents.

With an estimated $100 million already spent on its development, this technology is here to stay. This is why Mike encourages us to try ChatGPT now. Currently, the system is available free because its widespread use is helping it acquire “naturalness.” Yes, by using it you are helping to refine its functions. How valuable is that contribution? Mike says it costs the company responsible for ChatGPT, OpenAI, $700,000 a day to make it publicly available. So, explore what it can do, now. When the “honeymoon period” is over, you may find yourself having to pay for the same level of access.

What can we do with ChatGPT?
Mike suggests that the most effective uses of ChatGPT are as a research tool and an idea generator. He has experimented with a wide variety of prompts, from “How is equity risk premium calculated?” to “Where are the best places in Kyoto to meet ghosts,” and finds it much quicker and to the point than a Google search. If you’re writing a murder mystery, you can use ChatGPT to capture the steps that a skilled detective might take, for instance, to spot the symptoms of a rare poison, or determine the geographical location of a soil sample.

It can also help in coming up with the twists and turns that add interest and texture to a plot line. Chasing a suspect across Kyoto, for instance, might be interrupted by a flash flood on the Kamo River, or a traffic accident that blocks the Sanjo Bridge.

Another creative application would be to explore connections between two words, “cat + Kyoto,” for example. (I’ve been told that Shinichi Hoshi’s process for writing his short science fiction works was to pick three words or so out of a hat, so there is precedence for this approach.)

Hints for using ChatGPT
As it is not good at aggregate functions, avoid asking about the “earliest,” or “latest” of something
Ask for an analysis of two sides of an issue, as in “the pros and cons” or “lover vs fighter”.
Seek objective, or measurable, evaluation, so “most popular” rather than “best”
To deviate from the more common answers, or shift further “out of the box,” adjust the temperature parameter higher. Do this by including in your prompt, “temperature = 10,” for example

The future with ChatGPT
As many observers have pointed out, this technology is already proving advantageous in many fields, and Mike mentioned its beneficial use in personal counseling. For writing, he proposed instituting a content rating, where GPT=20% would indicate that 20% of a particular book or other text is AI derived. He also anticipated that we may see exams at university, for example, shift from written format to oral, in order to make sure that the students are able to take ownership and explain their ideas, rather than use ChatGPT as a shortcut.

In the field of translation, the Zoom discussion seemed to agree that while technical translation may fall prey to the power of AI, literary translation, where nuance is vital, is likely to remain in the domain of humans.

The topic of AI eventually leads to the questioning of what it is that makes us human, Mike said; “We will all be asking ourselves that question, either explicitly or inexplicitly.”

Mike is keen to conduct regular discussions about ChatGPT and invites others who are interested to join him on the Facebook group, “Fun with ChatGPT: A forum for people to share oddities they discover when using ChatGPT.”

*******************

About Mike Freiling:

Mike earned his PhD in 1977 from the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, one of the earliest degrees granted in the field of AI. After spending the next year as a Luce Scholar at Kyoto University, Mike returned to the US, working in a variety of roles related to AI and knowledge-based products, from Assistant Professor to Principal Scientist to Director of Product Marketing. Most recently, he has been developing models for detecting fraud in the areas of payment processing and capital market manipulation.

Mike has been a member of Writers in Kyoto since 2019. His poems and translations appear in the WiK anthologies #3 and #4, and he recently co-authored They Never Asked, a translation of Japanese senryu written by Japanese-Americans incarcerated during World War II, which is available here:
https://www.amazon.com/They-Never-Asked-Portland-Assembly/dp/0870712357

For Mike’s self-introduction to Wik, see here.

Above: photos from WiK’s Words & Music open-mic event at the Gnome Irish pub on July 16.
(Click images for larger views.)

The show consisted of 11 acts by 14 performers. It was a characteristically diverse field of poetry, music, short stories, song, talk and a Buddhist chant.

A few of the performances were videotaped and they are planned to be released on the members’ Facebook page. Members who were unable to attend this round of Words & Music are encouraged to prepare a presentation of their own that can be shared on Facebook in the same spirit. Work doesn’t have to be original; cited writings that will be of interest to members — and perhaps tickle their creativity — are also welcome.

Thank you to performers and attendees for bringing this event into being.

Above: Photographs tell the story of a stimulating and uplifting meeting of writers, in Kyoto, that continued until after dark. Contributing photographers are Karen Lee Tawarayama, Kirsty Kawano, Alessandro de Bellegarde and myself.

Lisa Twaronite Sone was the mastermind behind the outdoor, picnic-style occasion — the ‘WiKNiK’ as she named it. Her superb organisation ensured a wonderful time was enjoyed by all. Several members were meeting each other for the first time after the lifting of the extended COVID-induced isolation. The creative energy among the group, enhanced by the natural surroundings, was electrifying. The feeling of camaraderie generated by the launch and of a job well done bodes well for Writers in Kyoto. 

The Anthology is available through Amazon in a number of countries. The Foreword by Pico Iyer sets the scene for varied interpretations of the nature of Kyoto, several with a contemplative theme. Responses to change, both local (loss of old houses) and global (the changing climate), permeates a number of contributions. The less benign aspects of nature also receive attention. Initial feedback has been highly positive. So if you haven’t done so, place an order now. 

It has been a pleasure to be involved in the production of this important literary work.

— Jann Williams, Anthology Supervisor