the qualia journal

I don't know how, but I do feel that the summer has gone. Ever since childhood, at some time in August or September, I would suddenly co...

In many cultures a truth is simply bestowed upon the youth as given. You are not supposed to question the authorities, let alone to have new...

On Thursday, I had a wonderful time interviewing Michael Sandel in Tokyo for a magazine. Sandel's "Justice" ( http://www.justi...

For a long time, Japan has prided itself as the first nation to modernize in the region of Asia. Despite the terrible and self-brought defea...

On the second day at the CUTE center in NUS (National University Singapore), we had another hectic and yet deeply enjoyable time. In the mor...

Since I came to Singapore a few days ago, one of the things that attracted my attention has been the sheer cultural diversity. Chinese, Mala...

Singapore is such an urban country on the surface. You have the impression that no matter where you go, you find buildings and paved streets...

I am in Singapore now, attending a conference at National University Singapore. I met with Ilya Farber, my neurophilosophical friend now bas...

As the sheer volume of information available for an average individual increased, we really need a keen and well-tuned "sixth sense...

As the sheer volume of information available for an average individual increased, we really need a keen and well-tuned "sixth sense...

(continued from yesterday) The phrase "a fool can be cured only when he dies." is a very famous one in Japan, known even among the...

Japanese literature has a rich tradition in the philosophy of life. The genre of Rokyoku, in which important events and life histories of fa...

We have our weekly lab meeting, where we hold the journal club and also discuss things. One of my students (he has a Ph.D now so he is techn...

When I was in the teens, I often wanted to have everything RIGHT NOW! As ignorant youths often do, I wanted fame, not in many years later, b...

Nowadays I really enjoy a cold glass of beer in the evening. After a strenuous work day in the heat island of Tokyo, what better ways are th...

Yesterday, when I returned from the studio of All Japan Senior High School Quiz championship, I found a box. Tomio said that it was for me. ...

(continued from yesterday) I left the mountain brook and started to walk towards the middle-aged man's voice. The road was covered with ...

To this day, I do not understand what was behind my impulse to hide from the middle-aged man. It was not that he looked dangerous or anythin...

The middle-aged man I met along the mountain brook said that we walk together. I said fine. So both of us set out to look for Panchala ganes...

When I was 12 years old, I wanted so much to capture a particular butterfly species, Panchala ganesa loomisi,. It was a small and lovely but...