the qualia journal

Yesterday evening, we were in a Denver steakhouse, and I and Mas Kondo and Nathan were discussing American politics. Mas referred to the imm...

All day, I was moving around South Dakota and Wyoming. Peter and Tony was with me, among other people. As we were driving the country road s...

Every nation has its good and bad points, and most often they co-exist. Whenever I come to the United States, I am always impressed by the b...

I arrived in the United States. Lining up at the Immigration in Minneapolis St. Paul airport, I was impressed by the sheer variety of people...

Translated from the original Japanese essay in Ken Mogi, "Ikite Shinu Watashi" ("I live, I die") published from Tokuma S...

I had an very interesting chat session with people working as volunteers in Dialogue In the Dark Tokyo for a book project. These are visual...

I really stick to the rice. When I stay at a hotel, and have a choice between Japanese and Western breakfast, I always choose the Japanese o...

It may sound paradoxical or even outright absurd, but being out of your depth is one of the most marvelous experiences that life can bestow ...

Creativity does not come from nothing. People sometimes have this hazy and rosy misconception that you can create marvelous things out of th...

One of the great things that accompany an appropriate use of time pressure comes from an unexpected angle. Use of time pressure can increase...

In life, one of the practical tricks to learn is to how to make a good use of time pressure. By using appropriate time pressures, the brain...

It has been some time since I have started to use twitter seriously. Currently I have two accounts, one in English (kenmogi) and one in Japa...

I sometimes wonder what it takes for a talent to flourish. Take my "fat philosopher" friend Ken Shiotani, for example. Obviously, ...

When we were 20, I and my fat philosopher friend Ken Shiotani went on a real adventure near the University of Tokyo Hongo campus. On the nex...

I was at the Fuji television in Odaiba yesterday, for a studio shoot of the Best House 123 show. I appeared as one of the guests. During the...

There is something definitely breathtaking about the occasional playfulness of google. This morning, many users of google would have waken u...

I got on the train in the opposite direction. AGAIN. I was reading Richard Dawkins on the Amazon Kindle, and got on the train that came to t...

It was with deep sadness to hear the news that Mr. Shusaku Arakawa passed away. Shusaku's great achievements and warm personality would ...

Whenever I discover the hidden agendas and threads behind a famous person's life, I exclaim, and shudder at yet another manifestation of...

When I was in London two weeks ago, I saw a lot of "Yo! Sushi" adverts. One of them asked "are you a Sushi virgin?", fea...