the qualia journal

The human bran is attracted to contingencies, the mixture of regular and random things. Contingencies are concerned with the border between ...

One of the apparent functions of the perception of one's will is to make one's own action predictable by the self. By the cognition ...

As I have repeatedly written in this space, I used to collect and study butterflies quite seriously when I was a kid. It meant that I had to...

Civilizations come in many forms. I traveled to the Island of Bali in February. On the last evening of my stay, there was a Legong dance sho...

I have been keeping the Japanese blog more or less regularly since 12 December, 1999. My webpage The Qualia Manifesto was initiated on 26...

I was traveling to Nara , the ancient capital of Japan. After searching for huge cedar trees in the mountain, I was strolling in the town ce...

"The Lamentations of a Mermaid" (Ningyo no nageki) is a literary bar ("Bundan" bar) in Tokyo. You can meet writers, nove...

When I was a kid, I really loved to eat watermelons. I would sometimes eat them graciously with a spoon, with all the grace that a boy child...

In the great masterpiece by Soseki Natsume , Sanshiro , there is a humorous passage between Yojiro and Sanshiro, two University students. --...

Ever since I learned that there was going to be a total solar eclipse in the southern islands of Japan I wanted to be there. However, these ...

When I was a kid I used to be a bookworm. When I am really absorbed in reading, I become one with the book. On one memorable afternoon, I re...

I went to the performance of "Hansel and Gretel" of Seiji Ozawa Ongakujuku 2009. The first time I heard live music under Seiji Oza...

In the small house that I rented in Cambridge, there was an old wooden chair. I used to sit on them in the evening, sipping beer and watchin...

Some time ago, I was talking with the curator Yuko Hasegawa. We were discussing the nature of criticism, a necessary element in evaluating w...

I met with the Hungary born mathematician Peter Frankl for a radio program at NHK Peter is a fascinating character. He is also known for his...

I attended the rehearsals for the opera "Hansel and Gretel" by Humperdinck. The conductor was Seiji Ozawa. The rehearsals were hel...

I live in Tokyo. I travel on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to the western cities (e.g. Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka) of Japan quite often. In ...

Yesterday, I was giving lectures at University of Osaka. Walking along the street, I saw two common bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon) butterfli...

"Kaen-doki" ("Fire flame earthenwares") are found in various part of Japan, and are estimated to have been made 4000 to ...

I went to Vancouver, Canada at the age of 15 for one month to study English. My host family (Verna and Jim) lived in Richmond. They would of...