between a tweet & the presentation zen website
Garr Reynolds is a jazz-loving marketing professional and student of Zen and the Zen arts who lives in Japan and travels the world talking about all things presentation. His Website: www.presentationzen.com
A moment of Zen off a busy street in Tokyo
This is outside a small shop off a busy narrow street in the Jiyugaoka area of Tokyo. Near the station.
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Good night from Shibuya!
View from hotel room. Note Shinjuku in background. LOVE being in Tokyo! always a great vibe.
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Autumn photos from the Kuragari-touge road (暗峠)
The other day we hiked back home to Osaka over Mt. Ikoma from the house we're building in the countryside of Nara. We hiked along the Kuragari-touge road (暗峠), a low pass in the mountain (about 1500 feet). This road was built in about the 8th century and some parts of the road still contain the original stones today. In olden times, the road was a tollway filled with traders going to and from Osaka and pilgrims hiking long distances to visit shrines, including the famous Ise Shrine (伊勢神宮) which is quite far indeed from Osaka. The road is very quiet today and used only by locals and some tourist; you sort of can feel the sprits of the perhaps millions of people who took this road over the past 1200 years. Certainly emperors, shogun, and other famous people throughout history took this road. Here are a few snaps.
Snapped from the Kuragari-toge road. Water wheel and old rice paddies not being used (mixed in with others that are still being used).
Scarecrow guards a vegetable garden (not shown). Note water wheel and unused rice terrace in background.
Another pic from the road -- rice in foreground. Rice terrace in background.
Right at the Osaka/Nara border the road is essentially just as it was 1200 or 1000 years ago and there is a nice little place to rest and have some tea on the left. Note the boy on his bike at the border sign. He is calling his friends (who are far behind him pushing their own bikes up the steep hill) saying "I made it! I made! I'm at the border! Come on, hurry up!"
Rice fields to the left, my wife hiking down road on right. Road is original but here the pavement is not.
Walking down the Osaka side, we stumble upon a sleepy temple nestled in the mountainside.
Walking down the Osaka side we are back to the modern big city after just coming from what seemed like a different time back up the mountain.
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What are your tips for steady, continuous improvement? Care to share them?
Though Kaizen is a tool used by corporations to achieve greater innovation and excellence, it is also an approach, an approach that we can learn from and apply to our own lives as we strive for "continuous improvement" on a more personal level. We can call this “personal Kaizen” and we can use this approach to improve — step-by-step, little-by-little — our design mindfulness, knowledge, and skill. I am putting together a list of tips for people who want to grow, learn, and improve everyday as it concerns creativity and design knowledge/skills. But I would like to hear from you: What are some of the things -- big or small -- that have worked for you? What are you doing to try and improve everyday. Would you mind sharing them in the comments section below? Or Tweet 'em if you prefer. Would love to hear your ideas and tips. Thank you! -g
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iPhone video: Sushi in Osaka (44 seconds)
This is in a Kaiten sushi ("rotating" sushi) place down the street from our flat in Osaka. Yes, I know you are not suppose to eat sushi with the rice-side down (soaks up too much shoyu and wasabi), but I am a bit of a henna gaijin I guess. I love the wasabi! Name of the shop in Namba is Nippon Ichi. Excellent and a great price -- good nama beer too!
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