'Finding the Heart Sutra': Alex Kerr finds humor at the heart of wisdom and enlightenment
In his book "Finding the Heart Sutra," Alex Kerr breaks down the ancient Buddhist text character by character to reveal why the sutra has remained influential for over 1,000 years.
'Children of the Mist' delves deep into the spiritual allure of Shikoku's Iya Valley
Inspired by the comments of Japanologist Alex Kerr, Shintaro Miyawaki photographs not just the natural beauty of Iya Valley, but people's past and present interaction with it.
A literary platform for the collected writers of Kyoto
Writers in Kyoto is an English-language literary salon formed by writer John Dougill in 2015 to create a "sense of community" for writers connected to Japan's imperial capital.
More readers' responses to Japan Times Community articles from 2017
A selection of unpublished letters about Community stories from the second half of last year.
Alex Kerr on Japan: From 'voice in the wind' to vindication
A quarter-century after his first book warned Japan of what it had to lose, Alex Kerr feels the nation is finally on the same page.
Alex Kerr recalls 1970s Japan and David Kidd, the mentor whose influence never fades
Author and Japan hand Alex Kerr remembers the "larger than life, outrageous, tall, skinny, blond" David Kidd and the "golden age."
'Another Kyoto': Alex Kerr's roving thoughts on Kyoto as it stands today
It appears that when the Japanologist Alex Kerr was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, his tutors despaired at his unorthodox use of his time there, with one particularly testy don complaining, "He researches only the ephemera that draw his interest," going on to rail ...
'Beauty' as beheld in Japan through the ages
In July 2006, Shinzo Abe published a book titled "Utsukushii Kuni e" ("Toward a Beautiful Country"), but what does he mean by "beautiful country"?
Japan: A land gone to the dogs?
Alex Kerr loves Japan as much as anyone, but he knows much more about it than most. With the publication April 25 of "Inu to Oni" (Kodansha) -- a translation of his book "Dogs and Demons" (Hill and Wang, 2001) -- Japanese, too, will ...
