About the Author:Author
John Dougill is a professor at Ryukoku, Kyoto's largest Buddhist university. He has written many books about Japan including
In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians, Japan's World Heritage Sites and
Kyoto: A Cultural History. In addition to running the Green Shinto blog, he is the associate editor of Japanese Religions and founder of the "Writers in Kyoto" group. He lives in Kyoto, plays chess and loves to wander the banks of the Kamogawa River.
Photographer
John Einarsen is a photographer, designer, curator and founding editor of
Kyoto Journal, an international magazine on Japanese and Asian culture established in 1987. His photographs have been published in
Kyoto: The Forest Within the Gate and
Small Buildings of Kyoto. From 2013-2015 he served as an advisor to the
Japan Times and in 2013 received the Commissioner's Award of the Japanese Cultural Affairs Agency. He lives near Kyoto's Nanzenji temple.
Foreword writer
Rev. Takafumi Kawakami is deputy head priest of Shunkoin Temple in Kyoto, where he teaches Zen meditation classes in English to 5000 foreign visitors annually including groups from Harvard, Sloan and other schools. He co-hosts study abroad programs in Kyoto for students from Bryn Mawr, University of Oregon and other colleges and teaches Japanese hospitality and corporate wellness seminars. He has developed a mindfulness smartphone app called Myalo and supervises JINS MEME ZEN (a mindfulness program using a wearable computing device). His is the first Buddhist temple in Japan to publicly offer same-sex wedding ceremonies, and he has been a member of the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program of the U.S.-Japan Foundation, since 2008. His 2015 TED Talk "How mindfulness can help you to live in the present" has been viewed by over 100,000 people.