With time to take each task in its own turn, unhurried

 A Reader in Australia "Data Gecko" asks:

What a wonderful book. In an age when the wisdom of the past seems mostly forgotten or ignored, here is a book that is not only beautiful to look at, but overflowing with inspirational wisdom that is just so satisfying for the soul. It is replenishing my rapidly dwindling pool of hope for the future, for the stories are uplifting, fascinating, and most importantly, motivating. 

Nakamura's Kitchen

The story of Nakamura’s sublimely simply life was a particular highlight for me. (Chapter 2) There are days when I crave such a simple life, uncluttered and with time to take each task in its own turn, unhurried, uncomplicated, without compromise. You make the following observation: “I compare Nakamura's absolutely simple--almost bare--existence to the sophisticated level of his thought and discussion, and I really feel an admiration for his decisions in life as to what to prioritize.” I wonder, do you think it is his ability to see with clarity which elements in life most deserve his priority and focus, and which can be laid aside, that ultimately dictates his success in the way of life he has chosen?

In my mind I try to imagine this life, though I can’t quite make the leap to following such a path, as my life (and mind) seem so cluttered with other peoples priorities, to the point I sometimes wonder if I even know what my own would be any more. It must take great strength to put aside the expectations of others, find with clarity those elements you believe are truly important, and then commit to them fully.

A wonderful story, and something to strive towards. Thanks.

Thanks for the question.  I think you have gotten it right, that it's his ability to see clearly what's important that determines his success, but I think, also, behind that, it's his innate personality to take things very slowly, and consider what ways to use his time that gives him that ability.  And, as I said in the book, I think it was the years he spent living with the Sherpa villagers in Nepal that reoriented his internal desires, and recalibrated his "needs." 

Reader from Conservative Town in the Midwest: "Best Book I've Read All Year!"

Jacqueline Potter from south-eastern Missouri wrote a review  of A Different Kind of Luxury on on Amazon.com.   (If you are a fan of the book, reviews are REALLY helpful, please take a moment and write one here.  Also--if you haven't--tell your friends about the book by email.)

(Jacqueline Potter found out about the bookfrom my father-in-law, Beryl Kingsbury, who is a Methodist minister and who spoke about the book and the values it portrays in one of his Sunday sermons.  Jaqueline is also a poet, and her son runs New Renaissance Books in Portland Oregon.  I was particularly moved by this review because some people have mistakenly thought that a book like mine would appeal only to Left Coast alternative types.) 

I don't know when I have enjoyed and savored a book as much as "A Different Kind of Luxury." I didn't want it to end. The people Couturier chose to interview, stay with and eat with in their remote mountain homes over a period of years are each so different and all so fascinating. My husband read it first, and he loved it as much as I did. The book itself is beautifully designed with wonderful photographs of the subjects, their homes and their works. 

The title and subtitle actually do not do the book justice. I wouldn't say the lessons learned are Japanese lessons, because they are not common to the current Japanese culture and civilization. It's just that most of the people are Japanese and have fled from Japan's hurried get-ahead-fast culture. Most of them have lived in India or Nepal for a time and have been deeply influenced by what they have learned there. 

I usually am reading three or four books at a time, as well as several magazines and newspapers. When I read Andy Couturier's book, though, I quickly decided I didn't want to read anything else. Every night before bed, I would settle into my warm bath to read, reread some passages and enjoy it. Of course, I would steal a few paragraphs now and then through the day, too. Andy is an excellent writer with a finely-tuned ability to describe the environment and life each of these subjects have created and why each one has done it, including the philosophy behind their thinking. He ferrets out these unusual viewpoints and makes us understand them. The people he profiles are unique, usually multi-faceted and almost all produce some kind of art, written words or music, in addition to various other activities. Most grow and preserve their own food with their own labor, too. One cannot read this book without being deeply affected by it. 

Young Japanese Flute Player Inspired by ADKL and Sets Off on Foot

I just got an inspiring email from a man named Sekiya Yuya who lives in Japan, and the book has "given him confidence that there's a more natural way" to live in his home country.

Murata's Flute

Wow,  thanks for writing to me.  I have been just thinking about you!  I ordered your book from a book store and just read the chapter on Kogan Murata. (chapter 4--Here's an excerpt from a previous blog entry) It gave me great feelings and inspirations, especially because I am in the same flute tradition.  Each chapter gave me a new way to look at Japan. I have read Oe Masanori's (Chapter 11) books, so I was surprised that you actually met with him.  I had to pass your book to my Japanese-American friend from Hawaii, so I will order it one more time from a book store.

Recently I decided to leave Tokyo and travel in Japan by foot with my flute. Your book is one of the reasons, and gave me good news and confidence that there is more natural way to be in Japan, to seek the Way.  I hope someday I will meet people like you showed in the book, and find out and create good community in nature.

 Sekiya Yuya

Young Indian Environmentalists Review the Book on Video

Laxmi and Anjor are two wonderful young people I met in the Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh.  They are the first Indians (in my acquaintance) to read A Different Kind of Luxury. They were both really moved by the book, and inspired. Since many of the people profiled in the book lived and learned from India and Nepal, I asked if they would give a few of their comments. I think you can feel their passion:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHGtekHLqC8

Read an Excerpt of the book!

This is the excerpt that prompted Pico Iyer to contact me to offer to put his recommendation on the book.  It's an excerpt from Kyoto Journal, a beautiful magazine of Asian Culture.  You can read this piece, with a number of beautiful illustrations not available in the book, right here.

I'm very moved to share this piece with you as it is some of the very valuable work of Akira Ito, (chapter six), especially as I had given it to two young Indian environmental activists, who read it aloud to each other, and, listening to one of them, Laxmi, read it to the other, I was reminded how important and meaningful Ito-san's work is.

This is the link:
http://www.stonebridge.com/pdf/ADKL_KJ.pdf

A Reunion With An Old Friend

I was honored that my old friend Mr. Honda came my lecture last month in Tokushima, Japan, the city where I lived for four years.  Honestly, he looked great, much better than when I knew him before.  When I lived in Tokushima first in ‘89-91, then again in ‘98-2000 he was a city council member, then a prefectural lawmaker.  At one point, his coalition came close to taking over a majority of the prefectural congress, which was inspiring since he was an outspoken environmentalist and against a lot of central government directives.  I even once helped him campaign about ten years back.  Since I first met him he’s always been very open, honest and congenial.  Back when I spoke very little Japanese, his excellent English helped me out a lot.

After the lecture, we all went out for dinner, and I found that Mr. Honda has taken up rice farming full time after losing his seat in the prefectural congress (the right wing framed him in a fake scandal, it seemed).  As I said, he looked great.   His face was beaming, and his whole body seemed much more relaxed. 

He asked me, “Andy, I just can’t understand how you keep up with this, working for the environment in Japan.  I mean, for us, well, we’re Japanese, so we must, but, you know, over these twenty years, so very little has changed.  Don’t you get disheartened?  Even though all the things I was saying 20 years ago, like that we should think more about the environment, now so many people are saying it, but they haven’t changed their way of living at all.  How come you aren’t discouraged?”

I’m going to leave aside how well I did or didn’t answer this question: my book isn’t “about” the environmental problem in Japan--it’s more trying to show how we can live better in this life with less interaction with the cash economy and more time for ourselves.  Of course I do try to make the point that if we all made such conscious choices, this will help the environmental problem by reducing our consumption.  Yet what I was so struck with was how much happier Honda-san seemed.  He told us stories about how when he converted his rice paddies from chemical agriculture to organic how many more frogs he saw, and how he has even spotted several endangered birds and snakes in his paddies.  And, he added, he just had more time.  Before he had such a busy schedule, and though he was always incredibly gracious, I always had the feeling that he was fitting me in to an incredibly hectic cavalcade of appointments. 

He said at dinner, “I was spending so much more money then, but I still ended up with the same amount at the end, and I was always rushed.  Now I’m living on $400 a month (everyone at the table gasps) “and I’m just so much more happy.”

Of course I should say that the people all over the world who like Mr. Honda were trying to pass progressive laws, and fight the system, these people are doing something incredibly important for all of us, and I admire their sacrifice, but at the same time, when you meet someone with such a marked change from “choked by schedule” to “just glad to be here, alive in this moment”, it gives you pause.