Kazuhisa Kusaba is by far my favorite Japanese artists. His works are mostly Shinto deities, Buddhist deities, dragons, lotus flowers, etc. I was shocked by the beauty and realism of his rainbow-colored dragon for the first time. I later knew that when he was little he could actually see the presence of dragons around humans. (Actually I know other few people who can see dragons, too. As one of a new trend, books about dragons are published and becoming popular in "spir

The Life of EMPRESS MASAKO of JAPAN - Former Crown Princess Masako of Japan (click to see the Youtube video) Never in my life, the news about the Japanese Imperial family was a target of interest. Actually, except on very special occasions, we did not see our royal families on TV news, not speak bad about them. We did not guess negatively about their behaviors. However, these days, things are changing, and I find rude reports not based on solid facts are freely talking ab

I found it very interesting, manga version of "KOJIKI", the oldest literary work in Japan about early chronicle of myths, legends, songs, genealogies, oral traditions and semi-historical accounts is getting quite popular! Manga, is a soft power of the Japanese to make things easy for beginners to understand something quite hard to grasp by just written texts. <Left> "Manga KOJIKI" (2015) ---Story of kami (s) with love, tears, and courage---. "KOJIKI ---kami's interpretati

My British friend introducing me to this beautifully made documentary film about Ieyasu Tokugawa, who united Japan with power in 1600 and started Edo period (Tokugawa Shogunate for 15 generations). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x0HAUxAT7Y&feature=youtu.be You can find the same film at Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Memoirs-Secret-Empire/dp/B002R9LPO2 ------------------------------------------ Commanding shoguns and fierce samurai warriors, exotic geisha and exq

A short essay that I wrote about my tours in Nara, Yamato was again featured in a local monthly magazine titled "NARARA" (「ならら」）for their October issue, 2019. In this issue, I wrote about my short and long vision of my tours. Basically, I believe that Nara has a potential to offer spaces not just for a short term tourists, but for those stay longer who comes to seeking for spiritual cleansing, finding inner peace, detox, harmonious balance of body, mind and spirit. etc. Th

from Hasedera Temple official site: Thinking about the Japanese history, as far as I know, Japan was united by military forces at least 3-4 times in different timings. It is easy to imagine, every time so many ordinary innocent people were forced to fight, run away from their homelands, and be killed and suffered greatly. On top of such wars, or man-made disasters, with active volcanos, earthquakes, tsunami(big waves), typhoons (tropical violent storms), and fires(thunde

October. 22nd has became a memorable day for me. I was in Kyoto, being an assistant guide at Tofukuji Temple with 13 American guests on "National Geographic Expeditions". When we entered the Hojyo, around 9:30, suddenly, the Heart Sutra chanting started. It was a special prayer for the moment of new emperor's enthronement. Here is more detailed information about the special event reported by professor John Dougill in his "Greenshinto" blog: http://www.greenshinto.com/wp

A short essay that I wrote about my tours in Nara, Yamato was again featured in a local monthly magazine titled "NARARA" for their September issue, 2019. This time, I wrote a short essay on why I have started to feature rather minor area of Yamato region. The basic reason is ...as I wrote here in this "About me" site: https://www.nara-yamatospirittours.com/about-us However, deep reason is, quite complicated to share, so it was quite challenging for me to write it down and m

A full-day tour in YAMATO, Nara with Caitilin from Australia. 🌲 She finished her Yoga retreat in Hokkaido and came down all the way to Nara to join the tour with me. It was a beautiful late summer day✨🌞 Next day, she c my mothe' shop in Naramachi area. 奈良県大和市の日帰りツアーでcaitilinとの室生寺. .🌲 オーストラリアのケイトリンさんと室生寺。 彼女は北海道でヨガのリトリートを終え, 自分のツアーに参加しました. お一人で１日大和ツアー。 いいお天気でした. #information #Nara

Monthly magazines, "Narara" issue August, 2019 Special feature: "Regeneration" -water of life- I wrote a short report about my Yamato Spirit Tours for this August issue and will write for September and October issues, too. #information #Nara

Any encounters with unique people enrich our lives. Isn't it so true for anyone? Since I have started to talk about "spiritual" aspect of Japan I have been blessed to meet wonderful people are also interested in similar or related topics. John Dougill is a writer of GREEN SHINTO blog.   I don't know anyone else who is as knowledgeable as him about this mysterious topic on Japan.  Mmmmm,  as far as I know, he has grand views of Shintoism than 95% (can be more) of the Japanese.

Now the rainy season has finally over and season of summer festivals with beautiful big fireworks has started all across Japan. Japan produces beautiful multi-colored big fireworks with many kinds and exports to 80 countries in the world. Some new unique ones change their colors and shapes a few times after they spark in the air. Just like the Cherry blossoms in the spring season, fireworks also leave us visual, vivid memories in our mind. Also, they have the similar featu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2GujJZfXpg Do you know a rather new anime director, Makoto Shinkai? He made a beautiful movie titled "Your Name" in 2016, and made a super success, and many Japanese has been waiting for his up coming reliease of his new movie just the same timing as the start of the summer vacation. Director Hayao MIYAZAKI's anime movies by STUDIO GHIBLI has been leading the Japanese anime movie industry and made them well known among the international societ

One month has passed since May 1st, the first day of “Reiwa” era. During this time, I've noticed increasing interests on issues and events on the Imperial family in general by the public. On 27th of May, I was thrilled to find series of praising news in multiple media both in and out of Japan on how graceful, mature, grounded, sophisticated manners that the Empress Masako welcomed The U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. They w

On May 1st 2019, a historical event happened in Japan, a shift of the Imperial era from “Heisei” (平成 1989 -2019 April) to “Reiwa”（令和 2019 May-). Until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the names of eras changed fairly frequently in order to signal a fresh start after some disaster or tumultuous event. Beginning with Meiji, however, it has become the custom for one imperial reign to be given one era name. “Reiwa” is generally translated as “Beautiful Harmony” . The announcement o

Just see the following 2 minutes trailer of a new Japanese movie " ; "Mifune: The Last Samurai - (2016) Official Trailer" on Youtube. Toshiro Mifune (1920-1997) "The Last Samurai, a new film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki, explores the accidental movie career of Toshiro Mifune, one of the true giants of world cinema. Mifune made 16 remarkable films with director Akira Kurosawa during the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema, including Rashomon, （羅生門） Seven Samurai

Have you ever seen the Hollywood movie, "The Last Samurai" (2003)? If you haven't, then I highly recommend you watch it. Then you may have more of an idea of the dramatic time of Japanese history, around the end of the EDO period (1603-1867), before modernization and Westernization (militarization) started. (Click to see )The Last Samurai official Trailer on Youtube: I think it is a good movie to question us... what is worth dying for? Of course, today, we don't have to sacri

For the last 7 weeks, I spent my time in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Being away from Nara at least once a year is my way to keepmyself objective, sensitive (sometimes critical) to the uniqueness and preciousness of my beloved hometown. Chian Mai is the second largest city next to Bangkok, but it had been a capital city of Lanna Kingdom. There are so many Buddhist temples in the city, so it reminded me of Kyoto. But, of course, cultural and nature elements are so different from Ja

Happy New Year ! ☺️　I hope your life will be full of surprise and joy in the new year that’s about to begin. May You be blessed with everything you want in life.🌏💖 The year 2019 🐗 is the year of the wild bore, the last animal of the Chinese zodiac. It is "the 31st year of Heisei (平成）" in the Japanese calendar. Although we use Western calendar in our daily lives, it is still very common to count years with a specific name of the era related to an Emperor. Please look

I'd like to introduce some of the books by Dr. Kazuo Murakami. He is a biochemist and one of the top geneticists in the world and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, one of Japan’s leading research universities. He is well known for successfully decoding the genes of renin, an enzyme which is crucial in blood pressure regulation. I read his book "Divine Message of the DNA" when I was a university student struggling with sleep disorder. I was encouraged greatly b