Dialogue
Philosophy in books stays philosophy. Philosophy in conversation becomes something harder to ignore.
Each entry in this series brings together three voices to work through ideas from Buddhism and Zen, Taoism and Lao Tzu, Shinto philosophy, and Japanese aesthetics — not to reach agreement, but to find out what the friction reveals.
Takeshi draws on decades of zazen, kendo, and Kyoto temple research. Nicholas brings the view from Osaka’s financial district and an instinct for the concrete — if it doesn’t translate into something real, he’ll say so. Catherine asks the questions a sociologist asks: why did this culture think this way, and what does that mean for how we live now?
The dialogues don’t summarize the essays. They test them — in the way only a skeptic and a genuine question can.
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Why a Japanese Man Prays at Both
A coffee shop in Kitahama, late afternoon. Nicholas has a folded printout on the table. Nicholas: I read your piece. The two temples, fifteen minutes apart, telling people the opposite thing about how to be saved. Good essay. But it…
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Nobody Told Me About the Tank Top
A few weeks ago I wrote about an evening at a sushi counter I’ve visited for years. Several tourists came in wearing tank tops and shorts, and I didn’t like it. The chef, a man about my age, served them…
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The River Is Still There — Even When You’re Not Looking (Diarogue)
Late May, Osaka. A bar with an open terrace along the Okawa river, just east of Kitahama. The air is warm but the night breeze carries something cool underneath it — the last of spring before the heat arrives. The…