Arts, Books & Writing
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Naked Authenticity
The style is important. With it, anything can look good. But if we focus too much on the style, we might miss something more important and crucial behind or beneath it. Like traditional martial arts—or even modern sports—the style and form are important. First, we need to learn how to do it by imitating the…
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From Yellow Pads to AI
When I was a young student, around the 1990s, before computers and word-processing applications were fully available to us, the tools for writing were pen and paper. A manual or electric typewriter was the best technology at that time. In those days, writing assignments followed these steps: I started with reading books in the libraries.…
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Lingua Franca 2.0
English could be one of the intriguing languages for social experiments regarding how a language diversifies and integrates. There are more than five thousand languages in the world, depending on how we classify them. It must be oversimplified if we count Chinese as one language. Mandarin could be one, and more. But under the category…
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In Sunlight, We Labor; In Rain, We Reflect
One of the fascinating expressions is 晴耕雨読 (Seikō-udoku) in Japanese, the term itself originated from Chinese classics like the Confucian and Daoist traditions. It is a sentiment describing an ideal life. 晴耕 (Seikō) means when it is a fine sunny day, you should work in the field like plowing or farming, or the implication is…
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No Creativity Without Garbage
Consciously or unconsciously, we all know that for quality, quantity matters. The two are not mutually exclusive but complementary. Without quantity, we can’t achieve quality. As such, what makes anyone an expert and allows them to achieve excellence requires, at least as a fundamental condition, quantity. You have to do it a lot to pursue…
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Writer’s Craftsmanship
If you run a full marathon in around three hours, perhaps you could be considered a well-trained runner. People admire your physical fitness. But with your excellent physical prowess, you can never compete with a car. If your purpose is to reach a certain destination as quickly as possible without physical fatigue, using a car…
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The Future of Good Writing
The definition of good writing has always been subjective, shifting with cultural norms, technological advances, and the purpose of the medium. In today’s online landscape, the rise of platforms like Medium often promotes the idea that good writing must be experiential and unique, offering fresh perspectives born out of personal narratives. While this ideal is…
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The Magic of Rare Books
Have you ever wandered into a quiet corner of a library and stumbled upon a book that felt like a hidden treasure? It’s the kind of book that seems untouched, its pages waiting just for you. Maybe you noticed its worn cover or read its first lines out of curiosity, only to find yourself completely…
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When Words Speak: How Reading Aloud Revives Traditions
Oral storytelling is as old as humanity itself. Long before written language emerged, stories were shared, remembered, and passed down through spoken words. These stories were more than just entertainment; they carried history, morality, and cultural identity. They were the lifeblood of communities, a way for people to make sense of the world and their…
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Finding Space in a Noisy World
As the year winds down, the holiday season kicks into full swing. Parties crowd our calendars, music pumps through speakers, and laughter echoes across halls. It’s a time for joy and connection, yet something often feels missing. Have you noticed how, when the music gets too loud, conversations fade away? Or how, in the buzz…
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The Lost Art of Copying
In today’s fast-paced world, where copy-and-paste happens in the blink of an eye, the act of manually copying texts feels like something out of the past. Who has time for that? But what if this old-fashioned practice holds something we’ve been missing? Across cultures and centuries, people have copied texts by hand—not just to preserve…
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Doing Nothing While Doing Something
Have you ever been so absorbed in an activity that it felt like time stopped? Maybe you were painting, writing, or even running, and suddenly, the usual effort of “doing” seemed to melt away. You weren’t thinking about the result, your to-do list, or even yourself—you were just there, completely immersed. It’s a paradoxical feeling:…
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