As a consolation I imagined the magnificence of Mt. Fuji

 As a consolation I imagined the magnificence of Mt. Fuji

Qualia Journal

On the morning after a heavy snow fall, I was on the Shinkansen train bound west. I was to make a day trip to and from the city of Fukuyama.

I was so looking forward to seeing Mt. Fuji. The famous mountain should look even more beautiful after a day of snow, on the now clear and shining world of a crisp winter day.

I was seated on the Mt. Fuji side of the bullet train and started to work. When I looked up, something was strange. I was just crossing a bridge over a broad river. I looked back, but there was no Mr. Fuji in sight.

I have made the Shinkansen trip from Tokyo hundreds of times, and could tell more or less immediately where I was judging from the scenery. However, in the aftershock of an intensive work session, I was at a loss for a few moments to tell where I was.

I gradually figured out that the train has already passed the Mt. Fuji region, and was now heading toward Nagoya, in the western part of Shizuoka prefecture. Absorbed in my work, what I thought as just a few minutes actually turned out to be much longer.

I was aghast. I so much wanted to see the beautiful Mt. Fuji on this audacious day after the general election. As a consolation I imagined the magnificence of Mt. Fuji in my fantasy nation of Japan, complete with its crisp shining peak and an elegant slope line formed by the law of gravity.

Qualia Journal.

Beautiful lion, jump over the ice of frozen tears

I was watching the figure skating team events at the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

Team USA's Ilia Malinin seemed to be doing great, when he backflipped. 

I was taken by a profound surprise.

It is even allowed?

The announcer said that the action was now allowed in the olympics. Malinin looked like a lion when he backflipped. A glitch or two in jumps did not seem to matter after the backflip and the overall grandiose manner of his actions.

Team Japan's Shun Sato did his very best, a perfect action, but still fell short of overtaking the American lion.

Sato sobbed uncontrollably after hearing the scores. That was pure Olympic magic. Sato did his best, at the greatest sports event in the world. Sato will remember this moment for the rest of his life. And so will we.

Tears freeze into beautiful ice after the utmost effort and love one living creature is ever capable of. 

Beautiful lion, jump over the ice of frozen tears, and proud samurai, face your rival and friend with the serenity of an attitude.

Qualia Journal.

 

We are all in this chaos we call the world, together.

When I awoke this morning the world was white.

Walking along the Tokyo streets in my neighborhood to cast my vote in the snap General Election called by prime minister Sanae Takaichi, i saw kids playing in the newly formed snow fields. When I was their age I also played with and in the snow, fascinated by the unknown, represented by the snow. 

When did I start to worry about my footsteps and disturbances of the public transportation system, instead of living in awe and wonder of the moments?

After I finished voting, I came out onto the streets. There were four elderly ladies gathered in front of the election bulletin board, taking long hard looks at the facebook posters and discussing votes among them. 

I overheard some political party names but pretended that I was only listening to the wind blowing.

I was totally with the ladies. I also did not know too much about the candidates in my election district.

The kids faces the unknown in the snow.

We grownups ponder the uncertainties in Japan's political future.

We are all in this chaos we call the world, together.

It started to snow again.

Qualia Journal.

I wish Miyazaki will win the Nobel Prize for Literature someday.

I was attending a party at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo, and a former student Miyazawa came to the venue. He had become slim.

Miyazawa graduated from the English Literature department of the University of Tokyo, and is writing novels now.

During our chat, I said that I felt that humanism was lacking in typical Japanese works these days and said that Albert Camus, whom I was reading at the moment, was different. 

Miyazawa said that you couldn't compare contemporary Japanese authors with Albert Camus. We then chatted on about Motoyuki Shibata and Haruki Murakami, and parted our ways.

Back on Tokyo streets, I was reflecting on the Miyazawa comment. I did not mean because Albert Camus was a great figure in world literature, a Nobel laureate, contemporary Japanese authors are no comparison. 

My feelings were more subtle and nuanced.

We of course have Hayao Miyazaki, who is a great humanist. I wish Miyazaki will win the Nobel Prize for Literature someday, I thought.

It started to snow, and I hurried my way in the chilly winter air.

Qualia Journal.

The taste of okonomiyaki

After a public event I was taken to an okonomiyaki place in Osaka. This was where Masaya Takada, a great friend of mine, used to hang out, I was told.

In Tokyo, we typically make our own okonomiyaki. When we were seated, there was a hot iron plate in front of us, so my default assumption was that I would make the okonomiyaki myself. Instead, the kind attendants brought the cooked delicacies onto the iron plate. There the food stayed nice and warm, for us to enjoy.

I was with Teppei Eguchi and Tamito Konno, both of whom knew Masaya well.

We exchanged our memories, and told what a great guy Masaya was.

The taste of okonomiyaki was deep and resonant in the Momotaro restaurant last night. Maybe Masaya was with us, enjoying his beer, just as he used to do.

Qualia Journal.

Jack Kerouac's On the Road

 So I have finished reading Jack Kerouac's On the Road for the first time in my life (spoiler alert: It was profoundly moving). I was drawn by the sheer rich intensity of his prose. Kerouac was a Haiku lover and the world's shortest poetry form might have affected Kerouac's writing in some way or another.

One is reminded of the case of Soseki Natsume, arguably the greatest novelist to come from Japan after Lady Murasaki of The Tale of Genji. Soseki also loved Haiku, being a close friend of Shiki Masaoka, the founder of the modern Haiku movement in Japan.

It is quite interesting to consider how training oneself in the minute details of text writing would lead to a great novel writing in the long form.

Coming back to On the Road, the friendship between Jack and Neal has almost theological implications crossing social and cultural borders, and the final book on a trip to Mexico extends the vision beyond the bounds of the known. A truly great read.

I read the Scroll (first draft) version.

Think Like a Stoic is out today.

 My new book Think Like a Stoic is out today. As someone based in Japan, this is a love letter to the western canon of stoic thinking, together with resonance from Japanese philosophy of life exemplified by such concepts as ikigai and nagomi.

I refer to ethics of samurai, as an instance of living for something greater than yourself. I define stoicism as a life in alignment with the laws of nature, and put it in the context of modern scientific discoveries.

I do hope that you will be interested to read this book. I tried to be as honest and uniquely personal as possible, keeping a vista of the wider view of human culture and civilization at the same time.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Like-Stoic-Ancient-Lived-ebook/dp/B0D83QDBY6