Culture
The Hojoki — Words of Wisdom for an Hour of Darkness
Sometime in late last year, somewhere in Hubei Province in central China, probably in the city of Wuhan, […]
Author Archives for John Carroll
John J. Carroll is a Kyoto-based freelance writer and translator who has lived in Japan for three decades. He is author of several books, including Trails of Two Cities: A Walker’s Guide to Yokohama and Kamakura and Japan: Soul of a Nation, as well as numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He received his M.A. degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he was concurrently a fellow at the East-West Center. He served with the U.S. State Department in China for three years through the spring of 2018 as vice-consul in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Culture
Tears of a Mouse: Story Tells of Sesshu’s Journey to Becoming the Greatest Japanese Painter
The “Year of the Rat” has certainly gotten off to an inauspicious start, what with the COVID-19 pandemic, […]
Blog
A Hospital Stay in Japan is Hardly the Worst of All Possible Fates
With the COVID-19 continuing to spread like wildfire worldwide, it is not surprising that foreigners living in Japan w
Culture
Lightning Strikes Twice Near Sanjo Bridge
In the decades leading up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, sonno joi (revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians) [&hel
Travel
Shaoshan Still the Epicenter of the Mao Cult
On a recent visit to the city of Changsha in China’s Hunan province, I took a side trip […]
Travel
Find 500 Years of History in Okayama’s Picturesque Kurashiki
It is a somewhat curious experience walking through the streets of the Bikan old merchant district in Kurashiki, the [
Culture
China Ramps Up Religious Persecution
Near my apartment in Kyoto is a Shinto shrine of ancient origins which is known for a sacred well […]