Japan

“Japan-Like a National Park,” Yearbook of Agriculture 1963, U, S. Department of Agriculture, pp. 525–28.)

While the shoguns and wealthy nobility often favored gold and other ostentatious colors, the Zen monks and the tea masters preferred the more mundane colors such as browns, greens, and grays.

As Kierkegaard said, “To venture causes anxiety; not to venture is to lose oneself.” I periodically take time to step back and reflect on my life, and I’ve discovered something interesting: Nearly everything that stands out as giving my life meaning involved taking moderate to big risks.

Writing makes me happy. But it goes beyond that. Writing is my life’s work. I am absolutely positive that this is what I’m here to do. Even if it turns out that I don’t have the ability, and no one out there wants to read a single word of it, there’s nothing I can do about this feeling. I can’t make it go away. I recognize that luck, effort, and

I felt so liberated and so pleased when I found out that what flowed inside me was connected to the broadleaf evergreen forest. My culture went far beyond the idiotic Japanese who started the war, beyond Hideyoshi Toyotomi who invaded Korea, and beyond The Tale of Genji that I detested. It was then that I realized how valuable plants are and how

‘From top left,’ began Nagare, tucking the tray under his arm, ‘Miyajima oysters, simmered Kurama-style, miso-glazed baked butterburs with millet cake, bracken and bamboo shoot stew, chargrilled moroko, breast of Kyoto-reared chicken with a wasabi dressing, and vinegared Wakasa mackerel wrapped in pickled Shogoin turnip. In the bottom right you