Blog

A few nights ago I went to see Yellow Face, a production of David Henry Hwang at Stanford University. The play was inspiring and raised...

A recent accident in which I fractured my hip and became temporarily disabled, reminded me of an essay I wrote several years ago...

When we realized that my mother could no longer make the trip to Japan regularly as she had done for years we faced a tough decision...

"The kick is no good!" As the announcer's shocked voice was heard across the nation, Jordan Williamson's life was drastically altered....

Last year I “came out” as Irish as part of a Mixed Irish Writers panel at the Crossroads Festival in San Francisco, along with Clare...

Our class became a healing musical circle as Jessica Anderson and Tyler Brooks invited us into a space where we came together in song and...

When I visited the areas in northeastern Japan devastated by the deadly tsunami that swept away so many lives on March 11, 2011, I met a...

"This is an invitation to make your life more a journey of self-discovery. It asks you: How do you approach your life? Do you create...

A few years ago, Tenzin Seldon, a Stanford student from Dharamsala, gave me this scroll and since then I start my day by reading it. The...

Rumi You and I have spoken all these words. But for the way we have to go, words are no preparation. There's no getting ready other than...

Today is the Isshuuki, Japanese for the first anniversary of my grandmother’s passing at 111, or 113, as the Buddhist priest declared...

How do we act when life gives us a situation that we feel is beyond our control? Humans repeatedly are forced to deal with such...

Fresh out of college, without a job, and needing some money to pay the rent I became a substitute teacher in the Cambridge, Massachusetts...

How can mindfulness teach empathy? Or what is ‘mindfulness’ in the first place? Dr. Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu, an American Japanese...

“Before you cross the street, take my hand. Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” In John Lennon's...

Have you ever felt like you’re the only one who’s different? Growing up as the one Japanese boy anyone had ever seen I often felt like I...