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My name's Joe Suzuki-Parker. I was born in Seattle, Washington, USA. I graduated from the University of Colorado with a double major in Japanese Literature and Asian Studies with a focus on pre-Meiji era literature. I live in Japan with my wife and two furry little kids (cat and dog).
In short, I have experienced the stresses of live performing; management; war; college; classroom teaching; police academy training; multiracial relationships; the green card process; international living; and much more. If any of the above pokes your interest then I think you will enjoy this blog as my writing is ultimately influenced by my past experiences.

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Japanese Spirituality

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B efore diving into spiritualism, I need to discuss the foundation with which spiritualism is build upon in the West and in Japan. And before I get too far it would be appropriate to define what I mean by "the West". For the sake of convenience, when I talk about the "West" I am talking about cultures who embrace and have a rich tradition in or relation to Greek philosophy as a frame work for rationalizing nearly everything (Americas, Europe, parts of Eurasia and the middle east). Okay, so lets get into it. In the West when we try to rationalize the world around us, we often do so through the lens of Dualism. Dualism is the idea that there are always two opposing or contrasting concepts for nearly everything. For example, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, man vs. nature, etc. It also explains why westerners, and very much the English language, is geared for discussion and debate. Conversely, pluralism is very dominate in the Japanese world view. Pluralism is th
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Reading List for Japanese Culture!

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All of the books below I have read in part or whole (some I have written about) and highly recommend if you are studying Japanese literature or even the language, after all, language is culture. Joe's Top Ten Must Reads : Ki no Tsurayuki's Tosa Nikki (土佐日記) 935 Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji Translated by Royall Tyler (源氏物語) 11th century Mori Ogai's The Dancing Girl (舞姫 ) 1890 Natsume Soseki's Kokoro (心) 1914 Tanizaki Junichiro's Naomi (痴人の愛) 1924-1947 Kawabata Yasunari's Snow County (雪国) 1935-1937 Mishima Yukio's Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白) 1948 Dazai Osamu's No Longer Human (人間失格) 1948 Oe Kenzaburo's The Catch (飼育) 1957 Murakami Haruki's A Wild Sheep Chase (羊をめぐる冒険) 1982 Supplementary Material Donald Keene: Donald Keene the godfather of Japanese literary criticism. Arguably, there is no one who has contributed more to the interpretation of Japanese literature than this man. Modern
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The Healthcare Debate And What We Can Learn From Japan

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Aside from all things Japan and Apple products, reading about and discussing politics are a few of my favorite pastime activities. I am passionate about politics but I am not the type to turn an ear away simply because you affiliate yourself with a specific party. I have my opinions of course, but generally speaking, I am very open-minded when it comes to political discussions. So with that, think of this as an open-minded discussion as you are welcome to comment on the issue as well, but please, be respectful. Healthcare is one of the hot topics in U.S. politics these days. Is it constitutional? This is the number question being asked right now. While I agree this is an important question, I think an equally important question that is not being asked is: How will a universal healthcare system fit into a country that takes pride in its individuality? The healthcare debate in the U.S. is much more about social issues than it is political, for the foundational arguments on both
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