'The Lone Samurai': A meticulous portrait of warrior-legend Miyamoto Musashi
William Scott Wilson's definitive 2004 biography, "The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi" stands out not only for its meticulous historical accuracy, but also for the author's expertise on samurai texts.
The cosmic talents of Noriyoshi Ohrai
It must have been nonstop monsters, warships, hunks and epic boobage for much of Noriyoshi Ohrai's life. The retrospective exhibition, at the Ueno Royal Museum, of this incredibly prolific illustrator's work is a frenzied and spectacularly schlocky cosmos of sci-fi and action movie posters, magazines, ...
Japan's 'way of the sword' baffles foreign observers
All cultures present aspects that cannot but baffle the foreign observer. For example: nothing in the native tradition equips a Japanese to grasp the concept of the blood of the crucified son of the one God washing believers clean of sin. The foreign observer of ...
'The Book of Five Rings': The text that showed many a Japanophile 'the way'
Legendary 17th-century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi authored this book in the last years of his life, expanding his "two heavens as one" double-sword strategies into a complete life philosophy.
Chef David Myers: 'Travel always helps me to create new ideas'
Culinary nomad on inspiration, Japanese citrus and Californian cuisine.
Chasing the ghost of Musashi in Kyushu
In the spring of 1645 a man lay dying in Kumamoto, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. He sensed that his time was near, asked for someone to help him into a seated position and tucked his short sword into his belt. This ...
Only in Japan could a sword be 'life-giving'
Few countries have broken with their past as sharply as Japan did. That was the price it paid for modernity. Japan in the mid-19th century had a beautiful, deep, highly refined culture that reached far down the social scale — but it was an ancient ...
Tokyo: Which famous Japanese person would you most like to meet and why?
If I had a chance, I'd like to meet the ex-Blue Hearts singer Hiroto Komoto, who covered issues such as many people entering companies all wearing the same suit, all wanting to join big firms and wanting to buy the same-style house. I like ...
