I’ll be interviewing sometimes local author Andy Courtier on his newly published Book A Different Kind of Luxury. The book contains the stories of eleven colorful representatives of Japan’s back-to-the-land movement. Japan is a country as fast-paced and materialist as any, and the people in the book and others like them face enormous cultural pressures to conform, but nevertheless maintain the good life as they see it. Andy Courtier spends most of his time in the Bay Area or traveling, but as a home base he and his partner Cynthia own rural property just across the Trinity border. Many of you probably know them.
Author and photographer Andy Couturier will discuss his book of profiles of people living simple, sustainable, extraordinary lives in rural Japan. A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance, just published by Berkeley-based Stone Bridge Press, lets readers feel the flavor and texture of the lives of a number of fascinating artists, philosophers and farmers who’ve chosen lives of reduced consumption and increased satisfaction. Although raised in the tumult of Japan’s industrial powerhouse, each of the men and women profiled have made the transition to a slower, more deeply satisfying lives with plenty of time for contemplation and a deeper connection with the natural world.
* Jinko Kaneko is a fine artist and fabric dyer who runs a Himalayan-style curry restaurant in the Japan Alps
By presenting the journeys of these ordinary-yet exceptional-people, Andy Couturier shows how we, too, can travel a meaningful path of living simply, with respect for our communities and our natural resources. When we leave behind the tremendous burdens of wage labor, debt, stress, and daily busy-ness, we grow rich in a whole new way. These Japanese are pioneers in a sense; drawing on traditional Eastern spiritual wisdom they have forged a new style of modernity, and in their success is a lesson for us all: live a life that matters.
He has a blog with excerpts and discussion.
Show time is 7:00 p.m., this Thursday evening on KMUD. Call-ins are welcome. I intend to focus on comparison and contrast between the people in his book and many of those who came to Humboldt to simplify and focus. The central question: what is the “good life” and how does one attain it?
For consideration of the theme, read this old guest post: Sohum and Ecological Roots.
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January 18, 2010 at 11:33 am
Anonymous
What about the marijuana? How can they call themselves back to the landers when they don’t have diesel generated indoor mega grows?
January 18, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Been there done that
I might have found this theme more interesting 30 years ago but as I get older I think I’m entitled to a few comforts. The “good life” appeals to a younger set who can physically afford to chop all of their own wood and cart their own water from wells on the other side of their 60 acre parcels. And simple technology is not necessarily “green.”
I’m glad there are young people who still strive for this “good life.” When they get older and appreciate the electric can openers which are a boon to those of us with arthritis and flipping a switch to turn on a propane heater with much less of a footprint than a wood stove I hope there will be a new generation to carry the “simple life” banner.
January 18, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Anonymous
Those people in the photo don’t look young.
January 18, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Eric Kirk
I think the youngest of the people interviewed are in their thirties, but really, it’s not about moralizing as to how you are living your life. It’s about their choices, and maybe some will find some inspiration. Certainly their ideas about life aren’t alien to this community even if values have changed along the way.
But I think the discussion shouldn’t be on the mechanics of the good life, since those are going to be different based on where you live. It’s about the question.
From Andy’s blog:
Below is a quote from last year, that Nakamura said. I’m thinking to start the book with it. Hmmm…
“In this life, the question of “Why have we come to be born? Why are we here?” Is such a huge question for every person. Of course we don’t think about it all day, every day: that would be exhausting. We mostly are out looking for something delicious to eat! But everyone has one instant or another of wondering ‘What does it mean to be alive?’
“Some people think about this all the time, and write thick books on the subject. Others only think about it for an instant, here or there. And of course, the very instant before death, everyone thinks about it, “Why did I come here?” But then they die and we can’t ask them! [smiles] ‘What does it mean to be alive?’
“So what is the correct answer? I have been trying to find this.
“You know, we learned in school about Pythagoras, and his trying to prove a theorem about a triangle. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t get it, until, once he drew a single line through the triangle, and using that line, he was able to quickly understand the problem. In Japanese we call that line a “hojosen.” So for me, for this question, I was looking for a “hojosen,” and the hojosen, I think, is daily life. From daily life, I would be able to get an answer to this question. That’s why I live in this way.
“Recently, I have begun to think that maybe there is no ‘right answer.’ For, after all, if six billion people have thought about this, by now, you might think that someone would have come up with a right answer, and the rest of us could just go and read it in a book. So even if there is no ‘right answer,’ I think the very most important thing is to try to find what that answer might be.”
January 18, 2010 at 7:35 pm
moviedad
Seems to me the way to live the longest, is to chop wood and carry water until you fall down dead halfway between the house and barn.
January 18, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Anonymous
Do any of them hunt for meat?
January 19, 2010 at 9:42 am
suzy blah blah
what is the “good life” and how does one attain it?
ROFLMAO!
January 19, 2010 at 10:08 am
Anonymous
I have to say that hippies these days are actually as consumption oriented as the rest of us. Maybe even more than average.
January 19, 2010 at 3:05 pm
anon
Anonymous says “I have to say that hippies these days are actually as consumption oriented as the rest of us. Maybe even more than average.”
Speak for yourself. These values resonate for me and I revel in sawing wood and supplying water. My chores are a daily path of beauty that I will walk, if I am fortunate, until my end days.
January 20, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Eric Kirk
Still, as the author of economic roots points out, many in the community have come a long way from the “simple life,” particularly the younger generations. The whole ATV phenomenon around Black Sands beach a decade ago was somewhat disillusioning for me.
Still, there are plenty of people who do live the simple and slow life and I think some of the Japanese stories will resonate with them. There are a number of differences. The people in the book mostly do not own their property and they live on very small parcels – like a quarter of an acre. The larger parcels are reserved for agricultural and other uses, very strictly.
We’re going to focus on three of the eleven people interviewed for the book, and one of them deals with the generational issues of the kids wanting to experience the city life. The question is whether they will permanently remain in the city or experience it and come “home.” Something about having tasted Paris.
January 20, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Eric Kirk
By the way, copies of the book are available at Chautaqua.
January 21, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Anonymous
Cool show Eric. A different topic for you. I wish you had gotten further into the discussion of children when making nonconventional lifestyle choices.
January 24, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Eric Kirk
There was no way to do the topic or the book justice in an hour. We touched on that subject, but a caller took us in a different direction which is fine.
Needless to say, some of the kids probably won’t go back to the farm, at least not until they’ve had some experiences. I don’t think the parents would begrudge that. They had the same opportunities.
April 4, 2010 at 9:09 pm
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