the qualia journal

I came to the city of Kan-Onji on the Shikoku island to meet with Dr. Michiyo Okada, who is a specialist on teaching children with special b...

March is the graduation time in Japan. Many school hold the graduation ceremony, where students receive the certificates and sing special so...

The Mount Fuji is an easily recognizable volcano mountain, and its shape is recognized by people in Japan. The other day I went to a restaur...

A human brain likes surprises, and mine is no exception. Every year, in spring, I used to be surprised as a kid to see the first signs of sp...

At least a part of human history can be regarded as a competition between different systems based on different philosophies and sets of valu...

I happened to see a clip from the old Godzilla series yesterday ("Mothra vs. Godzilla"). Originally, the film was released in 1964...

During the winter, all biological forms enter a kind of dormant phase. Human beings are no exceptions. While we go about busily along the st...

One of the greatest disappointments in life is that there are so many intolerant people. It hurts me deeply, when I see somebody carelessly ...

I used to take some days off when I was a pupil. When I had cold, I would say to my mother, "mom, I have fever", and lie in bed th...

The liberal arts education and learning remains important at any age. However, it is important to realize that what it signifies to be learn...

The brain has a great ability to betray you. Betraying you in the positive sense, that is. At some stages of life, when you are entering a n...

My artist friend Tatsuo Miyajima has started a new project called Peace Shadow. It is a petition for peace, made by burning your shadow. Ple...

When I was studying physics as an undergraduate at the university, I wrote an essay arguing for the necessity of reducing the cost of intern...

When Soseki Natsume was offered doctorate degree from the Japanese government in the Meiji era, he declined, saying that he has been living ...

I had an interesting public dialogue with the mystery writer Ms. Shizuko Natsuki. After the lively conversation, I went to a book shop (Kino...

Later in the evening, I came to Hakata, the central city in my mother's native area of northern Kyushu. Although I am a frequent visitor...

When I was a kid, I used to climb mountains a lot. Japan is a very mountainous country, and it is not difficult to find a mountain nearby an...

Yesterday was the girls' day (Hina-Matsuri) in Japan. When I was a boy, because boys will be boys, and I wanted to follow suit, I preten...

The Japanese are famously crazy about the cherry blossoms. When the season comes (usually from the end of March to the beginning of April, d...

My best friend and great producer Moichi Kuwahara has kindly put my tweet alongside a nice photo. http://twitter.com/kenmogi http://twitpic....