the qualia journal

I went to the Keio University Hiyoshi campus for our "Brain Club" meeting and lecture giving. It is always so interesting to go t...

Greg left a very interesting comment on my last entry "The secret is to hide your sources". Greg: It sounds reasonable that new di...

Albert Einstein once remarked to the effect that the secret of creativity is to hide your sources. Here, the great physicist is showing agai...

While in Ann Arbor, there was one thing that I would very much like to see. ENIAC. ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Com...

My travel in the United States continues. A 30 minutes drive from the Detroit airport brought me to Ann Arbor. As the car approached the aca...

I arrived in Columbus, Ohio, and moved to Athens, Ohio, on the road. We dropped by a roadside restaurant. I got into talking with John. John...

I started writing this blog on 29th October, 2004. There were 11 entries in the year 2004, 44 in 2005, 29 in 2006, 68 in 2007, 11 in 2008. T...

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, ...