The Appeal Of Nothing Special

Another of my nephews...Alex Kerr, who was the only non Japanese author to ever win the Japanense equivalent of a Pulitzer prize for his book, Lost Japan, considered essential for any westerner who would like to understand Japanese culture. He grew up in Japan and became totally immersed in traditional Japanese culture and it's preservation. He became a master of Japanese calligraphy and got into a bit of trouble with the Japanese government with his second book on Japanese society, Dogs And Demons...he went straight for the throat of the industrial/government corruption that has destroyed modern Japan and the destructive influences of Western culture.  He ruffled feathers when he exposed the problems with the Japanese Nuclear Energy program. In many ways it was a visionary book that predicted the Fukushima disaster and the ensuing problems in dealing with it. He actually had to move out of Japan for a while until the furor blew over. He is one of 2 of my nephews living in Bangkok, but he is back in Japan, hard at work promoting his dream of preserving traditional Japanese culture with is sustainable tourism project, which is rescuing and restoring remote ancient Japanese villages. This is something he has been involved in since the 1970's. This was his presentation at the end of September ago at the TEDxKyoto 2013 JO HA KYU Event.