A Different Kind of Luxury

Overview of the Book
A Different Kind of Luxury
Inspiring encounters with philosophers, farmers, and artists living rich, simple lives in the deep green mountains of Japan

	by Andy Couturier 1015 NE Jarrett St Portland, OR, 97211
	andy@theopening.org 510-594-1905

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	In our society of overwork, unfulfillable desires and maddening rush, we feel, somehow, that we have lost something important. For decades Westerners have been looking to Buddhism and other Asian disciplines, as well as to traditional peoples all over the world, to try to find a more satisfying way to live. Yet it's difficult for us to live in these people's ways, having grown up in an urbanized, industrialized culture. We are surrounded by excess, and we have so little time.
	In villages throughout the steep green mountains of Japan--arguably a more industrialized, overworked society than our own--are some fascinating people who have chosen a slower, simpler way to live. Inhabiting beautiful old farmhouses among the terraced rice fields, their lives are rich in the luxury of time: time for contemplation, time to lose oneself in meandering conversations, and time to know the pleasures of the shimmering natural world.
	A Different Kind Of Luxury is a book of portraits of these artists, craftspeople, philosophers and farmers living lives of reduced consumption and increased satisfaction. In the best tradition of documentary, this book, which grows out of a 22-part series in the Japan Times (see enclosed articles), gives readers a sense of the lush texture of their days. The vibrant writing conveys a sense of their characters, as well as the strongly felt (but humbly stated) philosophies that guide them. Among the people profiled will be:
	Ruriko Hino: [Read the Japan Times article] Gave up working in a "hostess bar" in a big city to discover the spiritual teachings of Tibet. Entered a monastery in Lhasa and is on her way to becoming a Buddhist nun. "There's no empty time in modern people's lives anymore," she says. "They aren't accustomed to nothingness. But no matter how you think about it, that emptiness is necessary. Otherwise you get tortured by time and swallowed up whole by everyday life."
	Kogan Murata: [Read the Japan Times article] Lives on less than $3,000 a year by growing all his own food, making charcoal to heat his tiny cabin, and grinding his own wheat for bread. Makes elegant bamboo shakuhachi flutes. Taking up the tradition of mendicant beggar priests of ancient Japan, wanders about the villages and towns playing his haunting sutras and accepting donations from those who wish to give them. "You could say that I'm an addict," Murata laughs with his typical exuberance. "If I play, I feel good. The more I play, the more I feel good, so I just keep playing. I'd rather be doing this than anything else. That's why I don't have a job. It's just better to play the flute."
	Osamu Nakamura: [Read the Japan Times article] Spent more than a decade in a tiny Sherpa hamlet in the Himalayas studying woodblock print carving with a Tibetan lama. Now lives in a small farmhouse at the end of a dirt path with only three light bulbs and a radio. Cooks sumptuous Nepali-style curries on a wood-fired clay cookstove that he built himself. Carves intricate patterns into cherry wood blocks and prints cards and bookmarks on handmade paper. "Making woodblocks with one's own hands cultivates a certain generosity and openness of the heart. It nourishes that state of mind in the craftsperson themselves which is intimately connected with an entire way of life."
	Though each of these people grew up in urban settings, their years of travel and living with the mountain-dwelling peoples of India, Nepal and Tibet sparked profound transformations that led them to embrace a different set of values. They returned to Japan to choose a slowed-down life of working with their hands, providing for their own needs, and living according to the philosophies they believe in.
	Their choice to be as self-reliant as possible has allowed them to be free of the tremendous burdens of wage labor, debt and busyness, while living in the country surrounded by clouds, wind, rain, flowers, soil, herbs, animals, insects, birds and trees. Yet neither are they hermits, for many of them are involved in the defense of the natural world, the preservation of ancient cultures, and sharing with others the skills and knowledge they have learned along the way. They are some of the most intellectually active people you will find anywhere.
	As a book, A Different Kind of Luxury does not, however, just report about this way of living, but allows readers to enter these people's worlds through its multi-textured format of:
	beautiful reproductions of their art excerpts from conversations photographic portraits recountings of the experiences that shaped them evocative descriptions of their homes, personalities and the work they do reflection and interpretation by a writer from the West
	Author Andy Couturier, M.A., a literary essayist and educator, folds into this work his perspectives gained from years of rural living, two decades of study of Asian philosophy and spirituality, a professional degree in writing, his work to protect the environment and traditional cultures, and a true passion for people and their stories.
	Though the book is set in Japan, it is not about Japan. It speaks to ideas whose importance reach far beyond national borders. Though its subjects grow their own food and live in the mountains, the satisfaction they have in their daily lives, the quality of their artwork and the intelligence of their insights make the book about much more than "back to the land."
	Not a "lifestyle", but a Way of Life, the solutions that these individuals have found are a realistic alternative because even though they use little money, they are not austere or self-denying people. Rather, they have found a way to experience a sense of abundance and fulfillment without consumerism and excess.
	A Different Kind of Luxury speaks of things that so many of us in the West have been yearning for: connecting more fully with the gifts of nature, an integration of Eastern ways of being into our everyday lives, devoting ourselves more to the creative process, and the chance to really take our time to get to know ourselves. But unlike so many books which talk of such things in abstraction, they are found here woven naturally into the life stories of real people living in our time.
	A Different Kind of Luxury is a book for travelers and artists, environmentalists and spiritual explorers. It is for people who love good writing, for people simplifying their lives and for all those fascinated by human beings and their stories. It is a book about touching our potential, and about how good this life can be.

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	It is OK to copy, print and forward these articles for non-commercial purposes BUT please just send me a brief email at andy@theopening.org along the lines of "I have copied/printed/forwarded this article" to let me know that you have done so. Thanks.