Philosophy

Even if we don’t write historical stories, or military suspense with technical details, all writers have one subject which they must all research: happiness and how humans pursue it. Even the most evil of evil villains, we believe, is motivated by their own belief that their actions will bring them some form of happiness. In this fascinating talk, Nancy Etcoff  gives some insights into the subject from the field of cognitive science. About a decade ago, I witnessed an Australian... More...

Because nothing should take itself too seriously, especially conventions about innovation and ideas, here is Tom Reilly taking a comic look at the TED in 2006. Enjoy!

This week’s talk is from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat,Pray, Love” and many others and is a must watch for all writers or anyone who loves a writer (or artist for that matter) and would like to understand them a little better. Let me explain. Each week from 7-10pm Sunday GMT (5am Monday, Japan time) there is a Tweetchat under the hashtag... More...

In my RSS travels, I recently discovered a source of inspiration about which I am no doubt very, very late on  the uptake. It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) I just didn’t know there was a place we could go to hear the speakers (rather than hoping the ABC would include them in Big Ideas broadcasts lol.)... More...

Tony McNicol is a photojournalist based in Tokyo who has a great blog which covers his experiences both as a photographer and in Japan generally and, of course, always has great photos! Recently Tony did a piece on Miyazaki Hayao, one of my favourite directors, and he was given permission to take some photos inside the Ghibli Museum. I haven’t... More...

As the hostess of this month’s Matsuri, I posed the question: What has Japan taught you about yourself or your home country? A few brave souls took on the challenge, dug deep and provided us with the posts outlined below. If you submitted your post via the blog widget and did not also put a link on my original matsuri post on this blog my apologies... More...

One of the things I am really enjoying about living in Japan is re-discovering my love of and respect for the seasons, which had faltered somewhat due to various stressors and, frankly, living in Sydney which doesn’t really have them. The seasons are celebrated here with gusto! Throughout the year there are various religious festivals (matsuris)... More...

Dennis at Dead Things on Sticks (one of my favourite working-writer blogs which often crosses into politics) calls our attention to this wonderful monologue from Craig Ferguson . This blog doesn’t often get political but this is really about media and politics … give it a click – important points made expertly. Afterwards, head over... More...

I know I was going to be lighter today but once again the priorities of those in the society in which I live show through and I am disgusted and saddened. During investigations for a report entitled “CHILDREN IN STATE CARE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY: ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND DEATH FROM CRIMINAL CONDUCT” which was delivered last week... More...

Every Monday at 6pm and Thurs at 5:30 pm for the last few weeks, a 6ft, willowy Japanese woman named Akiko (written with the kanji meaning “bright”or “shining” & “girl”) comes to our humble flat to teach us Japanese. She will do this for the next few months in preparation for our move to Nagoya in the last weeks... More...