In this issue

CONTENTS:

KYOTO NOTEBOOK
Kyoto’s Coral Reef
Mutsunori Yamamoto

Loss of Kyoto’s Counter-culture HUB
Kai Fusayoshi

Gamedev Meetup supports
Kyoto’s newest artform
Rachel Cockett

FEATURES
Ashoka’s Edicts: Messages for All Time
Ken Rodgers

The Museum of Forbidden Art
Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare

Kato Shidzue:
Her Life and Her Legacy
Patrick Parr

CONVERSATION
Receiving the Tao: Photo-artist Yasu suzuka
John Einarsen

NATURE
ECHIGO-TSUMARI & THE FUTURE OF SATOYAMA
Brad Monsma

ONLINE:
THE OPTIMISTIC VISION OF KITAGAWA FRAM
& THE ECHIGO-TSUMARI ART TRIENNALE
Amiko Matsuo

RENEWAL
RENEWING THE ZEN SPIRIT
A contemporary katazome artist refreshes
Kyoto’s oldest Zen Buddhist temple
Sarah Brook

OFF THE WALL: YUZEN + KATAZOME DYEING TAKE FLIGHT
Lisa Y. Allen interviews Melinda Heal

ENCOUNTERS
Chikamichi (Shortcut)
Ginevra House

The Minaret of Jam
Stephen Shucart

HEARTWORK
Japan, the U.S. & ISIS
Jennifer Teeter interviews Ross Caputi

INTRANSLATION
SWING
Mogami Ippei

POETRY
Still Unforgotten, Still Unresolved
Remembering Viet Nam
(Teresa Mei Chuc reads her poems online)

FICTION
AWA ODORI
Mark Crimmins

RAMBLE
THE BASER ANGELS
Robert Brady

REVIEWS

Kyoto Journal Magazine Description:

KJ is in many ways a unique publication. Firstly, it is not only non-profit, but also completely volunteer-based, over a very wide-reaching network. None of the editors – or contributors – are paid. We believe that KJ’s uniqueness extends to its editorial approach, its content – the range of topics covered – and to our approach to design.

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 KJ 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. Our generous contributors share valuable Asian insights through special features, interviews and profiles, fiction, poetry, photo-essays and reviews, in both omnibus and specially themed issues.

The unique aspect of KJ’s award-winning visual presentation is that our designers shape each story according to its individual content, without relying on templates. Each article is a separate exploration and finds its own form, while often existing in a deliberate interplay with other pieces, meaning that each issue adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

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 (think Zen, and a host of related experiential paths) and has also drawn richly from outside, especially in relatively recent years since the Meiji modernization. Essentially, KJ is a community that transcends place, while respecting and celebrating regional and local identity.

We aim to make the best use of the media at hand in continuing to seek the essence of Asia. Care to join us?