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And you, vast sea, sleeping mother Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream, Only another winding will this stream...

耐えるしかないのか 樹木よ　精神が血を流している 涙を流している　私たちは それでも　立ち尽くす木なのだ 和合亮一 we can only bear witness tree spirits bleeding tears falling, we are still...

Tsunami survivor Isao Sato, a resident of Iwate Prefecture that was devastated by the March 11, 2011 disaster, wrote of his experience:...

I dreamt that I died lost at sea washed up on shore and there they were waiting for me to return home to them wagging their tails licking...

"I was supposed to die many times, but I haven't.” A group of Stanford students were feeling every word Isa said, sensing how she who has...

“She waited for you,” the priest told me. I believe she did. It had been a long trip to get there and Grandmother had been on a long...

What do we do when life gives us a situation that we feel is beyond our control? We are repeatedly forced to deal with such conditions....

February 4 is the birthday of Rosa Parks, a woman who started a movement for freedom and justice by one simple act of bravery. On a...

"Hey mister . . . you're the guy who taught us Japanese!" It was years later and I could hardly recognize the kid who had come alive that...

Following my workshop a student came up to me and asked, “My dog just died two weeks ago, and I am so sad. How I can get over it?” At...

Mom's life began in a mountain village near the city of Matsuyama, the tenth and last child soon to be given to her older sister to be...

Reflecting on a child’s birthday brings a sense of renewed wonder and awe. The emergence of a life, a living creature, from the mother’s...

Did you ever why you’re here –what it’s all about? What better day than one’s birthday to ask. In a favorite film scene (It’s Hard to be...

It was another of those dog days, January 11-- 1/11. Because a dog's bark in Japanese sounds like Wan, I always say it's their day. It's...

"How do you find calm when there is so much stress and struggle with no clear end in sight? I want to share what has been helpful to me...

I was a youth striving to learn everything I could about Japan when the book came out. Driven by the black power movement, I was “coming...