Shinto Without Belief: Why the Japanese Still Bow at Shrines
I have prayed at shrines all my life and believe almost none of it
All of Osaka Performs a Rite that No One Quite Believes In
Tenjin Matsuri and the god who began as a curse
An Earthquake Has Brought Down Kumamoto Castle’s Walls Again
What the repeated fall of Kumamoto Castle teaches us about mujō — and why impermanence is a quiet instruction to rebuild.
Why Trying to Relax Makes You Tense
What I learned about panic from a bamboo sword, and why “just let go” is the worst advice ever given
How Shinto Finds the Sacred in Ordinary Things
What a mountain with no gods and a god with no face taught me about the way things actually are
The Most Caring Thing You Can Do Is State the Obvious (A Dialogue)
An admission in Osaka, and what it taught me about the one form of care my culture almost never offers
The Zen of the Quiet Day Off: Why “Doing Nothing” is the Wrong Goal
The problem was never how we spend our free time — it’s that we can’t stop trying to spend it well.
When Respect Becomes Law: What Han Feizi (韓非子) Saw Coming 2,300 Years Ago
A reflection on the limits of unspoken rules — and why the coldest philosopher in the East may be the one every globalizing society now…
The Care That Refuses to Be Spoken
In Japan, the kindest thing we do for a stranger is also the thing that leaves them most alone
Thirty Years of Zen, and I Still Can’t Tell You If It Works
Everyone from Tom Hanks to the app on your phone now promises meditation will change you in five minutes. After thirty years near Zen, here…