Celebrated the launch of Across a Bridge of Dreams at Daunt’s wonderful book shop on Marylebone High Street in London. Lots of friends and colleagues came and a good time was had by all. Hoping my book will do well! Please click on thumbnails below to scroll through the gallery: [wpcol_1fifth id=”” class=”” style=””] [/wpcol_1fifth] … Read more
Celebrating publication day (June 7th) and launch day (June 19th) – and have already had a lovely review of Across a Bridge of Dreams in the Independent! Japan’s headlong rush towards modernity frames this tale of star-crossed love. by Victoria James Nearly a thousand years before Romeo met Juliet, Japan boasted its own pair of … Read more
Forthcoming lectures: Monday June 18th 6.45 pm Japan Society Oriental Club, Stratford House, 11 Stratford Place, London WC1 1 ES www.JapanSociety.org.uk Illustrated talk: The New Japan and the Last Samurai free but booking essential *** Monday October 8th 6.30 pm Gateshead Japan Festival Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead NE8 4LN Illustrated talk: Japan: … Read more
Geisha call their world the karyukai, the world of flowers and willows. In the old days the ‘flowers’ were the flamboyant colourful oiran courtesans in their lavish kimonos; in woodblock prints they’re the ones with their hair bristling with combs and hairpins and ornaments. The geisha were the modest low key ‘willows’. But in the … Read more
KanikakuniGion wa koishi Neru toki mo makura no shita no mizu no nagaruru No matter what they sayI love GionEven in my sleepThe sound of waterFlows beneath my pillow This beautiful poem was written by Isamu Yoshii. I was happy to be in Kyoto to see the plum blossom. On my last night there I … Read more
Thrilled to have a chance to visit Aizu, which features large in Across a Bridge of Dreams. I’d wanted to come when I was in Japan last year but Aizu is in Fukushima Prefecture and not that far from the Fukushima Dai chi Reactor and – more to the point – the Aizu friends I … Read more
At Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, Tokyo’s most well-loved tourist spot, people clap their hands, throw coins in the offering box, waft incense over themselves and stare up at the city’s latest landmark, the Sky Tree, a soaring television tower, currently the tallest of its kind in the world. When I was here last year, right … Read more
I’m sitting at a low table in a tatami room in the little old geisha house where I normally stay, in Miyagawa-cho, just down the road from Gion. It’s somewhat low class – the lowest class of the five Kyoto geisha districts – and therefore friendlier. Every time I come to Kyoto I discover all … Read more
Il Giappone e le sue tradizioni: una storia di amore e dedizione Intervistare Lesley Downer, affermata autrice di saggi e romanzi di ambientazione nipponica, contribuisce a sfatare il mito-maledizione secondo cui il più delle volte l’immagine che ci costruiamo di un autore che abbiamo amato va a cozzare inevitabilmente con la realtà, facendoci uscire dall’incontro … Read more
Today when the summer thrush Came to sing at Heron’s Nest I crossed the Bridge of Dreams. Have decided on the title for my new book: Across a Bridge of Dreams. The ‘bridge of dreams’ is an incredibly resonant concept in Japanese culture – it’s our short human lives, a bit like the Anglo-Saxon concept … Read more