The former villa of the silent actor Denjirō Ōkōchi (大河内 傳次郎 — 1896-1962)–most famous for starring in Akira Kurosawa`s Sanshiro Sugata, among many others and at his peak, was one of the top jidaigeki stars–lies lost in the back of Arashiyama’s bamboo groves. Called Ōkōchi Sansō (meaning Ōkōchi mountain villa) the estate of one of [...]
In the western part of Kyoto along the Katsura river lies a heavily templed area known as Arashiyama. Most famous of all the beautiful century old wooden structures is the Tenryu-ji Temple complex. Tenryu-ji Temple (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), head temple of the Tenryu-ji Rinzai Zen sect, was built in 1339 by Takauji Ashikaga [...]
America on the rocks – the updated national symbol of the United States: the dumpster diving Bald Eagle. How many can you count?
The Kiruna underground iron mines should be appreciated and (un)known as a place of many tours and detours. They hide many treasures. Though in fact, to be honest, they do not. They hide iron ore, a bit of copper and probably a lot of unworthy stones of assorted kinds. That is exactly what they hide. [...]
4 Japanese radicalism and the absurd was certainly not only the preserve of the Left. Yukio Mishima was the most famous living Japanese writer in the Fifties and Sixties, even better known than the older Yasunari Kawabata, who ultimately nipped him to the coveted Nobel Prize. But Mishima wore many masks. He was a novelist, [...]
1 Since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th, 2011 and the resulting Fukushima maelstrom, the western media has frequently reported a spectacle that appears to surprise them: Japanese people, the “quiet people”, are taking part in demos. Seemingly for the first time, petitions are being signed online and off, angry protests are being [...]
The Maya, Hindu, Hopi, Summarians and the ancient Greeks all have similar beliefs–that there are 4 or 5 stages of the world and that we are either in the 4th or the 5th. The Sikhs think that we will go from the 4th to the 5th world on (or around) December 21st, 2012–though some place [...]
“Live an interesting life and you’ll take interesting pictures.” – Jim O’Connell You know the photographer Arnaud De Grave from such HESO projects as the interview with Christiania documentary photographer Charlotte Østervang as well as his in-depth gastronomic reportage on French Truffles and the simple art of Gnocchi. Of course. The French-born, raised and educated [...]
Why do some races of people seem to have an advantage over others? Why are some countries rich and others poor? Why are some people haves and others have-nots? For argument’s sake let’s say that having (education, health, work) is the ostensible goal of human society on earth and not-having (basic somatic needs insecure) is [...]
“I’ve got death inside me. It’s just a question of whether or not I can outlive it.” — Don DeLillo (White Noise), It’s in the air, it’s all around you. You can try and brush it off, but it pervades your body willfully, silently. It accumulates. It makes you sick. I’m not talking about radiation. [...]
Note: I decided to revise yesterday’s article, which I wrote in a state of anger. As the comments rightly guessed, I found it hard to disassociate myself from this situation and write objectively. The small contingent who haven’t left Tokyo feel the same, I think, and those who are beginning to trickle back from Osaka [...]
***I wrote this in haste because I was incensed about the coverage in the foreign media. However, I realize now that this was a highly emotionally charged response. Read the rewrite here which is more objective, detailed, and to be honest, convincing. *** I think it’s time I checked in with another update from Tokyo [...]
Disaster hits in three stages: first local, then national, and finally global. When the room starts to shake like a airplane in horrific turbulence, you don’t think about words like “epicenter,” “death toll,” or “recovery effort.” The room is simply shaking and you are gritting your teeth and hoping that the next second doesn’t bring [...]
Text & Photography © Manny Santiago / HESO The Glassy Surface “I really feel we only have a couple decades to turn around what’s going on in the oceans. – Louie Psihoyos The photos depicting peaceful inlets of coastal water are of Taiji, a little known whaling town on the Pacific coast of Japan’s Kii [...]
