Right in the midst of Japanese Language Finals this week we are all gathering this Thursday for a Thanksgiving potluck at the center. On the topic of food, here are a few images taken by students last week of their delicious kaiseki lunch at the famous ‘Mankamerou’ restaurant!

Last week’s EAS class, ‘46 Key Concepts at the Heart of Contemporary Japanese Society’ was led by one of our former faculty members, John Ashburne, and offered students insights into some of the more elusive concepts that cut right through Japanese culture. Some of these include giri/ninjo, en, wabi/sabi, natsukashii, mu, shoganai, hazukashii, sempai/kohai and amae for those who would like to research these topics further!

This Saturday our EAS students will visit Kouunji Temple on the east side of Kyoto to experience ‘Zazen’ (Zen Buddhist meditation) and to hear a talk by the temple’s chief priest, Zen master Kanju Tanaka.

As Tanaka-san says on his website Zen and the Eastern Spirit, “The core of Zen, “selflessness”, exceeds individual sects and religions, so I hope that I can expound it as the core of the Eastern spirit, which has as its foundation the “state of mind of Nothingness (Mu)” of Shinto, Confucianism, etc”.