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Japan Talks

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and thousands of smaller islands, covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi). Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of the country's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. The country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making its islands prone to destructive earthquakes and tsunamis.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the fourth and sixth centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara, and later Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by warrior nobility (samurai). After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, Japan pursued rapid industrialization and modernization, as well as militarism and overseas colonization. In 1937, Japan invaded China, and in 1941 attacked the United States and European colonial powers, entering World War II as an Axis power. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation. Afterwards, the country underwent rapid economic growth and became one of the five earliest major non-NATO allies of the United States. Since the collapse of the asset price bubble in the early 1990s, Japan has experienced a prolonged period of economic stagnation, commonly known as the Lost Decades.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the National Diet. A great power and the only Asian member of the G7, Japan has constitutionally renounced its right to declare war, but maintains one of the world's strongest militaries. A developed country with one of the world's largest economies by nominal GDP, Japan is a global leader in the automotive, robotics, and electronics industries, and has made significant contributions to science and technology. It has one of the world's highest life expectancies, though it is undergoing a population decline. Japan's culture is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, film, music, and popular culture, which includes prominent animation, comics, and video game industries.

From Japan on Wikipedia

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Title Speaker

The Good Friendship of Shitou, Matsu and Yaoshan

Suzuki Roshi, Japan, Silence, Three Treasures, Bodhisattva Way
Feb 01 2014
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Embodying Zen Beyond Thought

Serial: RB-04170

Sesshin

Practice, Time, Japan
2014
Johanneshof

Navigating Edges in Zen Practice

Serial: RB-03794

Practice-Period_Talks

Practice Period, Practice, Japan
2014
Johanneshof

Zen Breaths: Path to Enlightenment

Serial: RB-04172

Sesshin

Breath, Practice, Japan
2014
Johanneshof

Integrating Western Views in Zen

Serial: RB-04174

Sesshin

Koan, Culture, Japan
2014
Johanneshof

Evolving Spaces in Zen Practice

Serial: RB-02259

Seminar_Sangha_Dharma_Buddha

Japan, Practice
Mar 2013
Johanneshof

Embodied Zen: Space and Practice

Serial: RB-03813

Practice-Period_Talks

Practice Period, Practice, Japan
2013
Johanneshof

November 18th, 2012, Serial No. 04016

Bodhidharma, Japan, Emptiness
Nov 18 2012

Performative Time and Cultural Perceptions

Serial: RB-03129

Conference

Time, Japan, Consciousness
Oct 2012

The Bodhisattva's Mind of No Abode 

The Bodhisattva’s Mind of No Abode
Tenshin Reb Anderson
No Abode, Sept 1, 2012 AM

Buddha Mind, Money, Japan
Sep 01 2012
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Transcending Identity Through Mindful Practice

Serial: RB-01684I

Seminar_The Self,_Continuity_and_Discontinuity

Japan, Time
Sep 2012
Hannover

Facing Change and Realizing Peace 

Commitment, difficulty, Japan, Funeral
Aug 02 2012
The Yoga Room

Zen Words: Shaping Reality Through Language

Serial: RB-03974

Seminar_Zen_and_Psychotherapy

Ceremony, Japan
Jun 2012
Rastenberg

Shadow Dance: Zen's Liminal Journey

Serial: RB-03536

Seminar_Challenges_of_Lay-Buddhism

Time, Suzuki Roshi, Japan
Feb 2012
Johanneshof

Embracing In-Betweenness Through Ma

Serial: RB-03534

Seminar_Challenges_of_Lay-Buddhism

Time, Japan
Feb 2012
Johanneshof

Zen's Western Blossoms: Evolving Practices

Serial: RB-03859

Seminar_Zen_in_the_Western_World

Ceremony, Practice, Japan
Sep 2011
Hannover

Transforming the Mind of Delusion 

Karmic Consciousness, Mahayana, Abhidharma, Japan
Jul 14 2011
The Yoga Room

Beyond Words: Embracing Bodily Space

Serial: RB-03485

Practice-Period_Talks

Practice, Japan, Zazen
Mar 27 2011
Crestone Zen Mountain Center

March 20th, 2011, Serial No. 03835

Generosity, Pain, Japan
Mar 20 2011

Japan Catastrophe

Serial: BZ-02165

Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Fallout, One-Day Sitting

Karma, Japan, Current Events, Karma, Repentance, Vow, Renewal, Composure, Interview,...
Mar 19 2011
Berkeley Zen Center

Zen Stories 

Lineage, Koan, Intimacy, Mahayana, Japan
Mar 17 2011
The Yoga Room

Dynamic Dimensions: Activity Over Entity

Serial: RB-01682D

Seminar_What_Is_the_World?

Japan, Culture, Buddhism
Mar 2011
Johanneshof

Intimacy with Birth and Death: The 39th Yearly Memorial for Suzuki Roshi 

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Commitment, Suzuki Roshi, Intimacy, Japan
Dec 04 2010
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Zen Pathways: Mind, Body, Institution

Serial: RB-04028

Sesshin

Buddha, Practice, Japan
Oct 10 2010
Johanneshof

Zen Mind, World Alignment

Serial: RB-04029

Sesshin

Practice, Japan, Culture
Oct 10 2010
Johanneshof

Zen's Random Voyage of Discovery

Serial: RB-02878

Practice-Period_Talks

Practice, Time, Japan
Feb 27 2010
Crestone Zen Mountain Center

For a Sentient Being to be a Sentient Being is just not to Move 

Priest, Japan, Lay, Lotus Sutra, Vimalakirti
Nov 14 2009
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

November 14th, 2009, Serial No. 03691

Priest, Ceremony, Japan
Nov 14 2009

Yoga and Meditation

OSB Cam, Yoga, Meditation, Breath, Posture, Bell, Japan
Jun 2009
4 of 4
New Camaldoli Hermitage

May 24th, 2009, Serial No. 03661

Suzuki Roshi, Japan, Tassajara
May 24 2009

Zen and the Art of Cutting

Mindfulness, Japan
May 11 2009

2008.10.04-serial.00198

War, Japan
Oct 04 2008

2008.10.02-serial.00196

Practice, Japan
Oct 02 2008

Envisioning a Western Buddhism Evolution

Serial: RB-01670A

Seminar_The_New_Buddhism

Buddhism, Culture, Japan
Oct 2008
Johanneshof

Zen's Western Awakening and Transformation

Serial: RB-01670C

Seminar_The_New_Buddhism

Japan, Buddhism, Practice
Oct 2008
Johanneshof

Entering and Embodying Truth 

Soto Zen, Japan, Bodhisattva Precepts, Perfect Wisdom
Jul 29 2008
The Yoga Room

March 24th, 2008, Serial No. 03558

Japan, Priest, Suzuki Roshi
Mar 24 2008

2008, Serial No. 03614

Ceremony, Japan, American
2008

Awakening Perception Through Mindful Movement

Serial: RB-01662C

Sesshin

Japan, Practice, Mindfulness
Oct 2007
Johanneshof

Beyond Thinking: Zen and Space

Serial: RB-01657C

Seminar_Dogen_Statements_with Norman Fisher

Dogen, Breath, Japan
Jul 2007
Johanneshof

The Light of Buddha's Wisdom - Precepts of Compassion

Buddha sheds the light of wisdom on the true nature of suffering, liberation, and the human mind, on the teachings of compassion, moral causation, and the whole phenomenal universe. This retreat...

Japan, Separation, Suzuki Roshi, Duality, Heart Sutra
May 05 2007
Part 4
Mount Madonna Center

The Light of Buddha's Wisdom - Precepts of Compassion

Buddha sheds the light of wisdom on the true nature of suffering, liberation, and the human mind, on the teachings of compassion, moral causation, and the whole phenomenal universe. This retreat...

Thich Nhat Hanh, Commitment, Letting Go, Japan
May 05 2007
Part 5
Mount Madonna Center

Multiverse Identities in Shared Spaces

Serial: RB-04002

Seminar_Sangha

Japan, Time, War
May 2007
Johanneshof

Mountains, Rivers, Mindful Transformation

Serial: RB-02896

Practice-Period_Talks

Japan, Practice, Time
Feb 12 2007
Crestone Zen Mountain Center

Awareness Beyond Consciousness Boundaries

Serial: RB-01651A

Seminar_How_does_Buddha_Show_Up?

Consciousness, Buddhism, Japan
Nov 2006
Hannover

Rooted Unity: Zen's Sacred Connection

Serial: RB-03110

Seminar_Heartfelt_Desire

Priest, Work, Japan
Jun 2006
Rastenberg

Experiencing Zen: Beyond Perception

Serial: RB-01650E

Sesshin

Practice, Koan, Japan
May 2006
Johanneshof

2006.01.30-serial.00081

Practice, Buddha, Japan
Jan 30 2006

2006.01.29-serial.00007

Dogen, Buddha, Japan
Jan 29 2006

The Transformative Power of Attention

Serial: RB-01647E

Sesshin

Japan, Time
Oct 2005
Johanneshof

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