Japanese Essays

「幸せってそもそも何でしょう？　59年間生きてきてわかった、幸せっていうのは、つまりこういうことじゃないか。こういう考え方をしたら自分にとっての幸せがどういうものかわかってくるはず。ということを、お話ししてみます。」吉本ばなな

この地球の大きさを体感したい――人を旅へと駆り立て続ける不朽の名作!

This book deals with two stories: the author’s and his object of study, contemporary Japanese society. Both merge into the 31 years he lived within it. The reader will find passages highlighting the points of contact between the two stories and others in which he distances himself from his personal history to analyze various aspects of Japanese society in an accessible way, trying to avoid academicism. In some chapters, he refers to the historical sources of its current situation, history as an indispensable tool to understand the present. He does the same with himself: he studies the ...

The goals of the budo - the martial arts and ways of Japan - lie in refining the body and spirit. These goals are not always the obvious ones - and are learned only through the guidance and direction of great teachers. The techniques, methods, and rituals of the sensei can serve as guides to a well-lived life - and provide invaluable lessons for today's martial artists.

The Narrow Road to the Interior and Hojoki are two of the best-loved works of their kind; famous for their beautiful, delicate verse and subtle insight into the human condition. It has been said of The Narrow Road that 'it was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it'. It takes the form of a travel diary, and traces the poet's journey from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northern interior.

Hidemi Woods was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. Singer, songwriter and author. A Rich World Requiring No Wealth The most luxurious hotel in my small, rustic town is not far from my apartment. I visited there again the other day, not to stay the night but to use the club lounge. The club lounge is exclusive to a member of the hotel’s loyalty program. The members can use it free of charge. The hotel has a regular lounge for its guests which menu has heart-stopping prices. Nonetheless, it was alive with customers who came to ski on the skiing slopes adjacent to the hotel. At the entrance, ...

Locked up in The Hospital Nephritis confined me in the hospital during the summer break when I was in the fourth grade living in Kyoto, Japan. Although I didn’t feel so sick, the doctor ordered me to be inactive all the time. Inside a six-bed pediatric ward and a hallway between the nurse station and the hospital kitchen was the allowed portion for me to move around. When I needed to go beyond it, a nurse put me in a wheelchair. Within a couple of days, I thought I would be bored to death, not from nephritis. I walked back and forth along my restricted stretch on the hallway many times a ...

The Beginning of My Life After I was graduated from a Catholic high school in Kyoto, Japan, I went overseas for the first time in my life as a family trip around Europe during spring break right before starting college. The culture shock I experienced there seemed to alter my brain. It took control of me and began to inflict cracks everywhere on common practice of the small hamlet of Kyoto that I was born and grew up in. One of the things I realized in Europe was that so many different people lived by so many different ways of their own. It had been always that way and not worth mentioning,...

K.I. Peeler has traveled to 80 countries as both a tourist with a group tour and as a traveler on her own. Pantyless in Scandinavia And Other Escapades of World Travel is a collection of 6 interesting and eye-opening stories of her world travels. The Introduction briefly explains the world of international travel and its significance. The author provides her readers with the answers to the question, "Why is traveling abroad so exciting?" Chapter One "Nice to Meet You, El Presidente" is a story about K.I. Peeler's "chance meeting" with the president of Paraguay in Asuncion. This story ...

明治から昭和初期にかけて活躍した物理学者、随筆家、俳人である寺田寅彦の随筆作品。

初出は「経済往来」［1933（昭和8）年］。「寺田寅彦随筆集　第四巻」［小宮豊隆編、岩波書店、1948（昭和23）年］に収録。

幼い頃から体が弱かったので牛乳を飲まされていた。当時まだ飲みにくいものであった牛乳に少量のコーヒーを混ぜて飲んだ、という話から広がりを見せ、ついにはコーヒー哲学の序説なるものを綴った作品である。

当時の若者たちが命を捨てても守りたかったもの。再び還ることのできない出撃を前に、特攻隊員たちは真心のこもった手紙を書き残した。両親への感謝、幼い弟妹への気遣い、この国の未来への想い―。永別の哀しみの中にも取り乱すことなくつづられた手紙には、隊員たちの無垢な想いが溢れている。永久に語り継ぐべき感動の記録の中から5編を知覧特攻平和会館の参事、川床剛士さんがご朗読。

※本コンテンツは、「サンプルを聴く」ボタンの再生で作品全編を聴くことができます。

歴史に名を刻む人は、安楽な人生を送れないようになっているのか。 貧しい家に生まれ、両親は離婚、そののち父は自殺、養子に出されるが、画家 を志して決別、生母に巡りあうも拒絶され・・・這い上がるように名を成すも 戦争・敗戦・不遇な日々がーー 運命が人を選ぶのか。 人が運命を選ぶのか。 「人が運命を選ぶのだ。」と魯山人ならいうだろう、と、確信する。 本作品をしれば貴方もそう思われることだろうと思う。 これは単なる料理の書ではない、人生の書である。

The theme of this book is death. It is personal and is a taboo in many societies. The author is a Japanese woman writer and professor who lives in the United States. She describes in detail her experiences and emotional pain that derived from losing her loved ones in Japan and the United States and how she dealt with them. Thinking about death leads to thinking about life; how we should live moment by moment. Your beloved person's death is not a dead end in your life. This book contains two dozen chapters, and the readers can start reading any part of the book as they like. Certain chapters...

明治から昭和初期にかけて活躍した物理学者、随筆家、俳人である寺田寅彦の随筆作品。

初出は「東京帝国大学新聞」［1929（昭和4）年4月］。「日本の名随筆89　数」［作品社、1990（平成2）年］に収録。

それぞれに苦手意識をもつ学生諸君に、数学にも語学にも案外共通項があるということに気づかせ、好きなものに対する方法を利用して嫌いなものを征服する道程を暗示したいと考え、書き綴った作品。

寄り添う。見守る。救う。裏切らない。それが本なんです!いつも幸せだったら本など読まずに生きていけるけど、残念ながら、一ミリの退屈も苦痛も後悔もない人生などない!

”街に自分だけの歴史が積み重なり、深い色になっていく”（本文より）。子どもの頃に遊んだ街、青春を過ごした街、父の死を見送った道――。東京の「街」をめぐる自伝的エッセイ集。

雨のそぼ降る森、嵐の去ったあとの海辺、晴れた夜の岬。そこは鳥や虫や植物が歓喜の声をあげ、生命なきものさえ生を祝福し、子どもたちへの大切な贈り物を用意して待っている場所……。未知なる神秘に目をみはる感性を取り戻し、発見の喜びに浸ろう。

「あの旅」を斎藤工が全文読む――26歳の青年の人生を決定的に変えてしまった陸路二万キロが始まった！

会議に執筆、今年もマリコは大忙し。去年から勤め人となったマリコは年始から大忙し。元気を出すためしっかりお餅を食べて、朝ドラの「舞い上がれ！」はかかさない。理事長になって初めての卒業式。

「あの旅」を斎藤工が全文読む――26歳の青年の人生を決定的に変えてしまった陸路二万キロが始まった！