KJ Back Issues: 54

#54

Cover: "Victory" (1976) by Fukuda Shigeo
(See Metamorphosis: Reinventing the Future inJapanese Post-War Design, by Maggie Kinser Saiki)

This issue of Kyoto Journal delves into aspects of the transmission of culture from East to West — and conversely, how local values are identified and sustained — among other topics.

We're especially delighted to include "Buddhism is Not Un-American," an interview with poet/publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti fifty years after he co-founded City Lights Press in San Francisco — together with a selection from his "After Basho" suite of poems (incorporating color etchings by Stephanie Peek) — in conjunction with "Ideograms and Teahouses," a meditative essay by Malinda Markham exploring the possible influence of Chinese/Japanese writing on the development of 20th century American poetry. And in "Super Mario Nation," Chris Kohler investigates Japan's dominant and innovatory role -in the rapidly developing field of computer games.

Present-day political developments in Asia are discussed by eminent political commentator Noam Chomsky and free-thinking Japanese journalist Asano Kenichi, while Richard Appelbaum dissects "Sweatshops, Asian Cultural Values, and the New Global Protest Movement." In "Okinawa: Music Vs Militarism," Sherry Nakanishi ponders a long-running clash of cultures in southernmost Japan. Similar questions are raised by filmmaker Rey Ventura's personal encounter with the New People's Army of the Philippines, recently outlawed as a "terrorist" organization.
In "Tea & Qi," an unusually intimate evocation of life in Maoist and post-Mao China, Philip J. Cunningham interviews Beijing resident Russian-Chinese artist Siao Weijia. Robert Brady muses on the vital nature of personal epiphanies in "The Big Elsewhere." And the best-known post-war illuminator of Japanese culture, Donald Richie, contributes a haunting allegorical work of fiction, "Freefall."

FULL CONTENTS:

ARTICLES, ESSAYS ETC: Okinawa - Music Vs Militarism - Sherry Nakanishi; The Island of Songs & Dances - John Potter; Ideograms & Teahouses - Malinda Markham; Super Mario Nation - Chris Kohler; Metamorphosis: Reinventing the Future in Japanese Post-War Design - Maggie Kinser Saiki; New Words for New Convictions - Suzuki Kazue; The Importance of Wisdom - William Amos
INTERVIEWS: Turbulence in the East - Noam Chomsky interviewed by Asano Kenichi; Sweatshops, Asian Cultural Values, and the New Global Protest Movement - Richard Appelbaum interviewed by Philip Grant; Buddhism is Not Un-American - Lawrence Ferlinghetti interviewed by Carl Freire; Tea & Qi, an afternoon with Beijing artist Siao Weijia, by Philip J. Cunningham
POETRY: After Basho - Lawrence Ferlinghetti (with color etchings by Stephanie Peek, editioned by Paul Mullowney, Tokugenji Press)
FICTION: Freefall - Donald Richie
RAMBLE: The Big Elsewhere -- Robert Brady
ENCOUNTERS: Dogs Barking at the Full Moon - Rey Ventura; Seeking Haihu, and Haikuists, in Nagoya - Avery Fischer; The Gift of Signs - Joel Breckenridge
REVIEWS: Visions of Buddhist Life, Dan Farber (reviewed by Catherine Pawasarat); Landscapes for Small Spaces, Mizuno Katsuhiko (Douglas Bullis); Chado, the Way of Tea, Sasaki Sanmi (Lauren Deutsch); The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth; ed Sam Hammill & Bradford Morrow (Morgan Gibson); Fusion Kitsch - poems from the Chinese of Hsia Yu, translated by Steve Bradbury (Ken Chen).
Plus Voices (our quotes page), Word, and Readers' Resources.