Kyoto Journal – Issue 94

Kyoto Journal Issue 94 (the Kyoto Issue) is available now from LOREM (not Ipsum). Most of us who put this magazine together have chosen to live and work here, and we are part of a sizable community of like-minded yet diverse others who may or may not currently live in Kyoto, yet who have found a sense of home-coming. This issue features a tribute to the inspiration that this city has afforded so many of its devotees…

Founded in 1987, Kyoto Journal (KJ) is an award-winning, volunteer-driven quarterly magazine presenting thought-provoking cultural and historical insights from Kyoto, Japan and all of Asia. Now the longest-established independent English publication in Japan, our interdisciplinary approach, high standards of journalism and stunning design have brought us several international independent press awards, including the Utne Reader and Pushcart Prize. Our Founding Editor, John Einarsen, also received the Japanese government’s Cultural Affairs Agency Award for Kyoto Journal’s long-term efforts to introduce Kyoto and Japanese culture to the English-speaking world. A journal, whether public or private, is an ongoing means of looking afresh at the inhabited world, both social and natural. In selecting material for Kyoto Journal we look for intelligent work that comes also from the heart. We are curious about society, beliefs, traditions and new developments — how people live, and live well — through the lens of Asian experience. At the same time, our name, “Kyoto Journal,” also reflects more than a physical location. Kyoto is a place of deep spiritual and cultural heritage, and has been the measure of such things here in Japan for more than a millennium. Kyoto culture has looked deeply inwards and has also drawn richly from outside, especially since the Meiji modernization. Essentially, Kyoto Journal is a community that transcends place, while respecting and celebrating regional and local identity.

Features

23 Artists; 23 works
Kyoto Journal asked a selection of foreign artists (mostly expat residents, past or present) working in a range of media to tell us how Kyoto has influenced their practice.

Jacqueline Hassink and William Corey’s Japanese Gardens
KJ reflects on the work of the two late photographers who became deeply immersed in the Kyoto’s gardens and returned here repeatedly to capture their marvels on film.

Raku Kichizaemon XV
KJ sits down with the current head of the esteemed Raku family of potters, who talks about how his extended time spent outside Japan has informed his approach and helped him understand the boundaries of working within a long-established tradition.

Liza Dalby
The first (and only) non-Japanese to have trained as a Kyoto geiko (geisha) describes the pleasures of creating hanging scrolls.

Tobias Hutzler
Upon the advice of KJ’s John Einarsen as to what he ought to shoot while in Japan, Hutzler sought out the pitch-darkness only the mountains could offer to capture the subtle beauty of senko hanabi traditional sparklers.

Plus

The impressive Portland Japanese Garden’s active training program, inspired by the quintessential Kyoto combination of gardens and tea;

An in-depth interview with Ginny Tapley Takemori, translator of Murata Sayaka’s must-read new novel, Convenience Store Woman;

Presenting a different aspect of human relationships with the environment, our Heartwork section features an essay on the impact of radioactive waste on indigenous communities in India;

And, as usual, we offer an eclectic collection of reviews of publications worth knowing about

and more.

Details: Kyoto Journal – Issue 94

128 pages, printed in Kyoto