deep kyoto

I’m actually in the UK right now and have very limited internet access but the following press release seemed important enough to make an extra special effort to get on a computer and post. I’ll be back in Japan on March 11th and regular Deep Kyoto postings will continue  then… Here’s that press release:

Kyoto, Japan – Feb 17, 2010: COP10.org, an ad hoc network of Japan-based journalists, scholars and activists, proudly announces the launch of their COP10 focused website to draw urgent public and NGO attention to the UN’s global biodiversity treaty conference in Nagoya this October.

The Nagoya COP10 conference is tasked with reinventing the 1993 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a binding global agreement affecting every major ecosystem on the planet, the rights of many indigenous peoples, the future of bioengineering, and the primary driver of species extinction, our climate policies.

Given the critical need for NGO involvement in this process, the site is designed as an information clearinghouse, support center, and strategy forum for the international activist community.

Website host and content partner, Kyoto Journal is also producing a special biodiversity issue to be made available to all seven thousand COP10 delegates. This autumn issue will introduce civil society’s concerns, inspirations from Asian traditions, and thoughtful suggestions on how participants could achieve something truly meaningful.

W. David Kubiak, KJ contributing editor and web coordinator of the group, predicts, “While few have even heard of it yet, COP10 is so important for the future of this planet and cuts across so many life & death issue areas that the activist community will eventually be all over it. We cannot let 7,000 technocrats, bureaucrats and corporate flacks decide the fate of the biosphere uncontested. Concerted corporate lobbying has already excised all firm commitments to “protected zones” from Japan’s official 2020 CBD targets without any apparent input from civil society at all. Climate, environmental and indigenous rights NGOs will now all have to cooperate to keep big corporations from crippling the final treaty, and we hope COP10.org will be of service when that organizing begins.”

Early endorsers of the effort include the Oceanic Preservation Society, the Environmental Investigation Agency, Pro Wildlife, OceanCare, Campaign Whale, Japan’s ELSA Nature Conservancy, and the campaign for a Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights.

Besides COP10 related news and information, the Kyoto-based website presents Asian ecological perspectives drawn from Eastern traditions, faiths and philosophies that offer models and insights for saner eco-social policies. It will also feature inter-NGO discussion forums to develop common strategies and plan coordinated actions, including a special brainstorming arena on downsizing, decentralizing and democratizing the biggest corporate bodies now threatening the earth.

Kubiak explains, “This last conversation is not just about COP10 or even the incessant corporate assaults on our international health, climate and environmental agreements the same assaults that have kept the USA from ever ratifying the first CBD or the Kyoto Protocol. It is more about the increasingly pathological role of huge corporate bodies everywhere in our biosphere. How big and destructive can we let them get before we ourselves are an endangered species? The sooner we address that, the sooner we may see laws and treaties that reflect real human values, not merely corporate demands.”

Indeed Big Pharma, giant energy and resource extraction firms, and Japan’s premier corporate groups have invested heavily in COP10 preparations. Keidanren, Japan’s all-powerful Federation of Economic Organizations, has sponsored or co-sponsored all the conference’s kickoff events with help from allies like Sumitomo, Mitsubishi and Royal Dutch Shell.

Wary of this power and taking lessons from Copenhagen, the COP10.org group is also trying to secure an independent NGO meeting complex and press center adjacent to the conference, and is currently seeking progressive sponsors and support.

More information on this initiative and other related campaigns will be posted on the COP10.org website in the coming weeks.

Contact:
Website inquiries – W. David Kubiak Email: info@cop10.org
Kyoto Journal inquiries – John Einarsen – Email: info@kyotojournal.org

I’m going to be in the UK for the next couple of weeks or so. Deep Kyoto will continue when I come back.

Sean says:

The JunKroom event last night was fun. About 40 people – not bad for a Wednesday. Here are a few video clips.

Other news…

I’ll be performing at Hounen-in on Saturday afternoon with Andy Couzens from SCF.
Were called amalls の skcaj
Think of a moonwalking South American camelid and you’ll be able to decode the name.
It should be fun but wear something warm and bring an anorak in case it rains(?)

More details/descriptions and directions if you check the organisers blog.

Tobira Records show case at 法然院
10/02/13(sat)
Drone/Ambient/Electro:
Capacity:50
Cost(inc. tea):Advanced ￥1,000, Door ￥1,500
(In order to make your reservation, please send a message to the e-mail address below with your name and how many tickets you wish to get.)
Contact :nobutosuda1101@yahoo.co.jp(nobuto suda)*
*Please make sure to bring some warm clothes to put on, it’s supposed to be getting really cold in the evening*

List of performers:
Hakobune+Nobuto Suda
www.myspace.com/hakobunemusic
myspace.com/nobutosuda
Hiroki Sasajima
www.myspace.com/hirokisasajima
STEVEN PORTER=Katsunori Sawa(EOC）+YujiKondo
www.myspace.com/yujikondo
www.myspace.com/enormousoclock
exportion+Me0ss
www.myspace.com/exportion
www.myspace.com/shotahashimoto
Jun Nishimura a.k.a. JadeGarden
www.myspace.com/ulmjadegarden
amalls の skcaj (Sseeaann Rrooee & Andy Couzens from S.C.F)
www.junkroomkyoto.blogspot.com
www.spasticchildrensfund.blogspot.com

Apollo has become one of our favorite places to eat over the last year or so. It’s an izakaya style restaurant, but the food is just a little bit nicer and the atmosphere just a little bit quieter and calmer than some of the bigger chain izakayas around the  Kiyamachi/Kawaramachi area (where you might have to scream to make yourself heard). Even so the prices are pretty reasonable. Apollo is a friendly place too. I get a strong impression when I go there, that the staff really enjoy working there and with each other. Happy staff of course means a happy atmosphere and excellent service! We usually get a seat at the counter when we go…

…but last Sunday we had a snug little second floor box room all to ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »

Vanilla is a stylish location for lunch, dinner or just a simple coffee. They do a very good coffee.

The interior is decorated with cool, mellow Scandinavian furnishings. Presumably there is some connection with the “Nordic Countries” store downstairs. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Wednesday was the anniversary of the day Mewby and I first started dating… Time for a big posh swanky dinner! I let Mewby choose the venue this time and she chose Guest House Cono. Contrary to the name it’s not a guesthouse. It is in fact a big posh swanky restaurant. The interior is simple, soft-lighted, elegant comfort and the only decoration is occasional Buddhist statuary. I’m not sure why. Maybe the Buddha’s presence is meant to have a calming effect. Anyway, we had a private room which was very comfy.

Now, the food was gorgeous. We chose the Awase course which consists of the following:

A selection of tasty hors d'oeuvres.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sean Roe invited me out to this place ages ago. “￥380 a beer,” he said. Very hard to resist. So I went. And here’s what I found:

Kanso is a bar, and an art installation combined. Its concept can be roughly summarized as

drink x cans = fun

The art here is nothing precious,  consisting as it does of cans. Big cans that you sit at like tables and walls of cans to dazzle your eye. Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and again I am overcome by a terrible yearning for junk food. But not just any old chain-store-Big-Mac-style-mass-produced junk food. I want junk food with character. I want junk food of superior quality. I want to eat it in some comfort and away from the common horde. And I want to wash it down with beer too. In all these respects Speak Easy satiates all my more sordid culinary desires. They have burgers of every description (even vegetarian), and mexican food,  and bagel sandwiches, and really unhealthy but oh so tasty looking American breakfasts with bacon and eggs and french toast and hash browns and all that jazz. And booze. They got booze too. (Hence the name, eh?)

On our last visit Mewby opted for a cheese burger. She likes her cheese burger with bacon and guacamole.

Cheese Burger (￥750) + Bacon (￥80) + Guacamole (￥100)

I on the other hand declined the meat options and had myself a big old greasy slab of gluten.

The vegetarian Gluten Burger (￥750)

It goes down really nicely with a glass of Sapporo draft beer (￥600).

The Speak Easy we frequent is on the north side  of Nishikikoji doori between Takakura and Higashinotoin. There’s a much older one up on Kitayama by Shuugakuin though. You can find maps to both locations here and take a look at the menu here.

Speak Easy on Nishikikoji is open Monday to Wednesday from 11:00～20:00
and Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 11:00~23:00
Closed on Thursdays
Tel:075-241-9388

Jennifer Teeter writes:

Many of you have probably already heard about the new Peace Boat
Initiative US for Okinawa. In solidarity with their event on Jan 31st to gather support for a no-base Okinawa, there will be a similar event in Kyoto on the 30th with Kyoto Action.

Kyoto Action is a group of people living in Kyoto campaigning to close
down Futenma Air Force Base and stop the construction of a new U.S.
military base at Heneko in Okinawa. The group meets every
Saturday, same place, same time, to show their opposition to U.S.
military base constructions in Okinawa. On January 30th, in
solidarity, Kyoto Action will also be distributing information about
Peace Boat’s new initiative, US for Okinawa “Peace Action Network.”

INFO IN ENGLISH HERE.

It will be a good chance to meet other activists in Kyoto that are
working on the base issue, which is directly liked with the
preservation of biodiversity. If you’d like more information, let me
know:) It would be great if some of you could come! We’ll be meeting from 5-630 at the Sanjo-Kawaramachi Arcade.

Just a quick reminder that award winning documentary maker Mara Alper is in town and this Sunday will be giving a presentation at the Kampo museum on the Huichol people of Mexico. Mara has been very busy this past week exploring and filming around town. Here is her video of the Toshiya archery contest at Sanjusangendo last Sunday.

Mara’s lecture “Visions of the Huichol” will take place on Sunday January 24th from 2:00 pm. The Kampo museum sits on the intersection of Reisen and Okazaki streets due east of Heian Jingu. Here is a map.

Related: Interview with Mara Alper
The Glorious Art of José Benitez Sanchez