The absurd line

I was visiting Oizumi last week here in Japan, and he has a huge new piece of artwork.  Here's what he said about it.  (I wrote about Oizumi in Chapter One of A Different Kind of Luxury.  If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider buying a copy of the book, for your self, or for your friend.)

OIZUMI: I made Chernobyl and Fukushima into one object, made into something that looked like the Great Wall of China.I wanted to make something as a memorial, a remembrance of Fukushima. 

At first the government said to people that they have to evacuate to 6 miles away from the plant, then they changed it to 12, and eventually to 18 miles.  (For the US Army they didn't let their soldiers go inside of  48 mile line).  There are farmers there where the 18 mile line goes right down the middle of their garden.  The government tells them that on this side of the line, they can't grow and sell vegetables, but right over here, on the other side, it's just fine.  Total irrationality.  It's like some kind of manga (comic book.)

So I wanted to memorialize this absurdist line.  I want to tell the people of the future that once there was this stupid line.  I made it in front of my house since the line is completely irrational anyway.  They could have put that line anywhere, and both sides are dangerous.  I also I wanted to make something big, something that would last.  So I made this 'objet d'art' here.  It weighs 6 or 7 tons.  It should last for a thousand years.  It's made with a rammed earth technique, and buildings in China made like with rammed earth have lasted 1000 years. 

Inside of the wall, I put a time capsule, inside a tube.  If people find it in a thousand years, they can see the names of all the famous people who said that nuclear power was just fine.  All the academics and journalists and musicians and writers and actors, all of them.  We're suing them in court, and I wanted all their names in there, so that the people of the future can know who they were.

They had the Chernobyl accident and they still didn't see and understand how dangerous it was.  They didn't stop using nuclear power.  It's really just kind of incredible.  Such a terrible thing happened, and they didn't stop.  Twenty five years after Chernobyl, and Japan-and  the rest of the world-just kept using nuclear power.  After the Russian accident, Japan said, “We are smarter, we have more information, we are more careful, we have better technology, it will be safe.”  That was all a lie.

Chernobyl was just one power plant. Fukushima was four. It probably released three, maybe four times as much radiation.  They became unable to control it. 

But maybe humans are just like that: they keep going all the way until there's a catastrophe.  Like in World War Two, the Germans went to Poland, and even though that was bad, they kept going, on into Russia, and just kept going.  The Japanese went to Korea and then Manchuria, and then Mongolia and Burma and on and on into New Guiney, and all the way to India.

They just can't stop, even if they're doing a bad thing.  Humans can't slowly change: they have to go all the way until there's a catastrophe.  Maybe people are just that way.  We have a saying in Japan, and it goes back a long way.   It's in a temple in Kyoto.  “I know what is enough.”   To know 'enough'.  We just don't seem to be able to know what is enough.  Human greed just keeps going and going.  

The Art of Hideo Ito

One person I have known for years, and is a close friend of many of the people in the book, and who I have always admired is the children's book artist Hideo Ito.

Painting of Kogan and Sayaka  Murata 

He publishes two or more books every year, in a tremendous variety of styles, and has exhibited at the gallery in Nagoya at the Tokurinji Temple, (mentioned throughout the book) and was good friends with Akira Ito (no family relation) who I wrote about in Chapter Six.

The painting above is not from his children's book collection, but a single edition watercolor of Murata san (from Chapter 4) and his partner Sayaka.  I love this photo.  It was tricky to get a good shot of it since it is mounted in glass.  You can see Murata playing the flute and Sayaka, who is a novelist writing.  Yet another way of seeing their way of life.

Cover of Chikara Taro
Illustrations by Hideo Ito

This is one of Hideo's newest book.  It translates roughly as "Power Boy."  I think it would make a GREAT book in English.  It would need translation of course, and a publisher, but I think you can see from these quick snapshots the power of his work. (Interested parties can email him directly at 

hideo-ito@nyc.odn.ne.jp  )

The boy Chikara Taro confronts a magician
in Chikara Taro illustrated by Hideo Ito 

I just had dinner with Hideo and some other friends while visiting Tokurinji.  I will be posting a lot in the next few months with reports on my journey to Japan.  But for now, I hope you enjoy these photos.

From Chikara Taro illustrated by Hideo Ito 

Illustration by Hideo Ito

Do you enjoy this blog?  Please support it by purchasing a copy of A Different Kind of Luxury.  Already have a copy?  Please consider buying on for a friend.  Thanks.

From Jonathan Richman to Russian Zen Monks to Writers Living in Vietnam

I've received a LOT of wonderful emails and letters about  A Different Kind of Luxury.  Each one has been so meaningful.  When I get them, I feel something I find hard to describe, but it is like "That intuition I had when I met these people in 1990--the intuition that their way of life is important to share, and that this book, when I write it, will make a difference to people", I feel that this intuition has been justified.  

And more than book sales or any recognition of myself, it is this feeling that is important.   If we can find deep satisfaction inside, a richness, that doesn't destroy the earth, then maybe we can live in perpetuity here.  It takes more than a book of course, but this is a great way to start.  As someone I overheard in a bookstore said yesterday, "We can live sustainably and well."

Mt Fuji: Watercolor by Akira Ito

Do you believe that?  And if you have found some clues to living that way in A Different Kind of Luxury, please share this blog address with your friends.  Or perhaps even buy them a book.  You can also share it on facebook here.

by Akira Ito

This first letter is something I got as an actual handwritten letter, from one of my heroes, Jonathan Richman.  He's got such fantastic songs, simple songs, about "Affection" and about "Vincent Van Gogh" and "A New Kind of Neighborhood."  I gave him my book at a concert and got this letter:

Andy
It's time I wrote you to tell you how much I like the book you gave me a few months ago in Santa Cruz.  Did you know when you gave me that book that it would be "right up my alley"?  I want to live like them !
Yours Truly
Jonathan Richman

This letter came to me with a Russian name in the email: 

Hello Andy!
My name is Michael Dubovik, I am a jazz piano teacher from Moscow, Russian Federation. 2 years ago I stayed for a couple of weeks in Tahoma Zen Monastery in Seattle and I saw your book "A different kinf of luxury" by one of the disciples there. I bought it by Amazon and I want to deeply thank you for what you have written in it.

I think it is important for everyone to find his own way of living. I was attracted to Zen practice at one point when I discovered that my musical development is slow because of me having a lot of thoughts during piano practice. I started meditating in a group, but now I have switched to yoga practice. All the way through I am trying to incorporate some wisdom of these traditions into my life and into my piano practice. I have firmly understood that I cannot be neither a zen monk, nor a professional yogi, and I don't feel that switching to "natural" living is my way. But what your book does - it explores the ways of how a western person can adapt eastern wisdom to his life, in the interviews you have been asking questions I have been asking to myself. So this is a rare opportunity for me to get a friendly and deep answer and to keep on going.
Thank you!
Sincerely yours,
Michael Dubovik

And this one came because a friend of mine, Jane Brunette, who teaches writing in Bali and remotely, shared how much she loved the book on her facebook page.  One of her students read the book, and found it "inspiring to me on so many levels."

Dear Mr. Couturier,
Despite the fact that I have only thus far read one chapter of your book A Different Kind of Luxury, I feel compelled to write you already and tell you how marvelous I think your book is. I find it so inspiring to me on so many levels. The writing itself is luminous, but it goes beyond that: your ability to draw us into the narrative of the person, and your personal experience of them in the moment allows the insights to reverberate deep within us. You talk of how San Oizumi's way of speaking brings out a level of self reflection in you as you listen. This happens in your writing as well, but not as a fast-thinking analytic response to what I am reading, more like a still reflection slowly appearing in a pool when the wind dies. Your humble attitude through the whole experience is as beautiful example to the reader as the words and lives of those you write about. 

Multi Grain Meal
at Wakako and Masnori's House

I am also inspired because, having lived in Vietnam for the last 15 years, much of what you say resonates on other levels, regarding the bravery of these people to dare to be themselves and follow their principles. Here in Vietnam, under the mass, high of an influx of cash and opportunities and fast-paced change, it is remarkable to meet people who are not caught up in this development, but at the same time, are not simply holding on to the past, or making tepid, trendy criticisms of the government with slick artworks in exchange for lots of cash, as some very talented artists here are tending to do as the market begins to open more to them.  It is very challenging under the current government system here for anyone to openly stand out and do so without some kind of protective backing. Those that I have met have humbled me, but I doubt I could ever convey this so well as you have. 

Vietnam has taught me many things about mindfulness and living simply which I am nervous and eager to attempt applying when I return to live in the Bay Area at the end of this year. Since I will also be bringing with me a nearly finished novel set in a mountain village of Vietnam, I am also excited to hear about your book completion course. I am happy to have that to look forward to, especially from someone with your background.
Thank you so much for writing A Different Kind of Luxury. I can't wait to read more! My best wishes to you.
Warmly,
Suzi Garner

Mineral colored painting by Jinko Kaneko

So if you have been reading this blog because you love the book, why not tell people about it?  This may seem self serving, but this book is NOT about me, it is about these fantastic and wise people, and even more about the values they live out humbly.  In fact, authors make almost nothing for each book sale: it mostly goes to others.  I put my life into this book project, and it took 15 years, and now I continue to try to let people know about it.  I count on people to tell others in their network so that the book continues to reach new people.  Thank you for your help

"The wise person living in the mountains"

“The wise person in the mountains” might sound like a cliché, and if you add the words “Asian” and “philosopher” it sounds even more so.

But if we slow down and look at each word, we might find some meaning that could help us:

What comes to mind with the word “mountains”?  Hard to get to; hard to stay in and live in; far away from noise, distractions, money.  Also surrounded by birds, plants, animals, trees (often big trees or old trees).  A place where people can be in direct contact with the seasons.  Perhaps, too, “hardiness.”

Now: “wisdom.”   How can we define it?  The capacity to make good choices, speak deeply, to understand our existence in a way that is connected to the larger, more-than-human world. 

Is there some connection between living in the mountains and wisdom?  I do think that mountains might be a conducive place where wisdom can develop.

How about “philosopher”?  Here’s a quote from the book, in the chapter about Wakako Oe:

As a university student in the 1960s she wanted to study philosophy, but was alienated by the abstract, theoretical approach of the teachers. “Philosophy is the study and act of thinking, isn’t it?” she says, asking me. “I went to university to decide what way of life I should choose. I thought that’s why everyone studied philosophy!” She laughs again, embarrassed by her misunderstanding. “But it wasn’t useful to me. I could think on my own, and at least it would be connected to reality.”

And indeed she did find a way to think, and believe and to understand reality by her listening to the life world in the mountains.

And what about “Asian”?  As you will see in the book, many of the ways of living, and ways of thinking that are much less harmful than our European-derived mercantilist, materialist culture have a deep basis in Asian philosophies such as Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism. 

So to me, it is the fusion, the artful fusion, the very beautiful aesthetic of putting all these elements together—wisdom, mountain living, and Asian philosophy—that makes the people I was so lucky to meet and to write about in a Different Kind of Luxury so worthy of emulation .  Indeed, there are wise people living out a good philosophy, doing it today, and they can, I think, show us the way, or at least one way, of doing it ourselves.