the qualia journal

In my all time favorite British sitcom Father Ted, there is a scene where Father Dougal MacGuire (the gullible one) asks a priest beside him...

I sometimes do book signings. My record was when I signed about 300 books in Kochi. That was strenuous. When I sign my book, I always add a ...

When I was a kid, I used to love reading "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. This short story depi...

I saw a bunch of people shouting slogans on the street. It is a free country, and people can say anything they like, but when people exhibit...

On a cold day recently, I was walking past the streets of Yamagata, looking for a place to console my soul and fill my stomach. I had finish...

Today, the qualia journal celebrates 150 days of continuous entries, the streak starting on the 6th of June 2009. Hooray! I do not know why ...

Recently, I received a very nice mail from a gentleman in Thailand. In it, he said some kind words about one of my books which has been tran...

I was having a conversation with my best friend Masahiko Shimada at a public lecture in Tokyo. Masahiko is a famous writer. Masahiko opened ...

On the airplane, I was thinking again about Glenn Gould. In an earlier post ( "Private language of music", 14th October 2009 ), I ...

I was walking to NHK, and going through the Yoyogi park. Near the entrance, there is a shop where they sell beer, drinks, and miscellaneous ...

It was late, as I finally made my way towards home. I was alone in the street, with the hush of night surrounding my existence. As often hap...

In life what you see in the periphery is often more important than what you observe in the central vision. If your attention is stuck, then ...

One of the things I am quite sure is that when I have spare time I know how to spend it. Without money, left alone from the world at large, ...

As a kid I used to dream of starry apparitions. I would be lying on the ground looking up at the night sky. While observing the twinkling st...

From yesterday's twitter entry. kenmogi Have become the world's fastest leopard. 7C of the 9th in Shinkansen heading for Kyoto. Corr...

I usually take a morning stroll to a convenience store nearby, and pick up some morning goods. For the last couple of days, I have walked on...

At the end of another busy day, I went to Kazahana in the Shinjuku district. Kazahana is a legendary literary bar. "Kazahana" (...

I love the film in which Glenn Gould plays the Goldberg Variations. What a beautiful procession! Aria, 30 variations, and then aria again. A...

I love autumn when the sky is blue and high. My best stroll would be along a river bank, where the autumn flowers display their miscellaneou...

"De Profundis" is a work in the form of a letter that Oscar Wilde wrote during his time in prison. In it, there is this beautiful ...