Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Abundance of Less
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1964
WEBSITE: http://theopening.org/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.theabundanceofless.com/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2017032535
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017032535
HEADING: Couturier, Andy, 1964-
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010 __ |a n 2017032535
040 __ |a DLC |b eng |e rda |c DLC |d DLC
046 __ |f 19640603 |2 edtf
100 1_ |a Couturier, Andy, |d 1964-
670 __ |a The abundance of less, 2017: |b E-CIP t.p. (Andy Couturier) data view (b. June 3, 1964 ; an expert in Asian philosophical systems)
PERSONAL
Born June 3, 1964; partner’s name, Cynthia.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and educator. Leads book-completion groups at The Opening, Santa Cruz, CA.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Andy Couturier “is an essayist and teacher,” explained Irene D’Souza in the Writer, who leads innovative writing workshops that stress the power of the unconscious mind in creative writing. Couturier’s first book, Writing Open the Mind: Tapping the Subconscious to Free the Writing and the Writer, offers “forty-two mind-opening exercises [that] were developed in his writing workshops. Employing a quirky razzle-dazzle style, Couturier charts a playful yet incisive course that unites good writing techniques with the subconscious world.”
Couturier’s second book, A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance, tells the story of ten people who live and work in rural Japan—one of the most technology-saturated countries in the world. “I have always thought it was possible to live a great life,” the author wrote in his introduction to the volume. “Beyond all the nightmares we hear about in the news there is a larger world surrounding us, not just the resplendent world of nature, but also our own potential as people to live well, to connect with each other, to do meaningful work, to make powerful art, and to forge a different kind of future for ourselves and for the next generation.” The book is based on the people he met while teaching English with his partner in Japan. Couturier and his partner Cynthia were introduced to people living simple—but very satisfied—lives without technology, choosing to perform tasks by hand that elsewhere would be done by machines. “As my Japanese improved,” Couturier continued, “I came to understand that these people were living out a real philosophy. They had set up their lives—or more specifically, their days—so that they had time to think on the most important questions…. As a result of meeting them, Cynthia and I decided to stay in Japan much longer than we originally intended. We have continued to visit over the years, trying, in part, to understand what it is about these people’s lives that gives them such fulfillment in their days.”
A Different Kind of Luxury was released in a revised edition and a new title (The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan) seven years after it first appeared. “The idea of the book is to explore the lifestyle and thought process of rural Japanese people, mostly elderly people,” stated a contributor to the Silicone Sutra website, “and how we might learn from them. The book reflects their lives- poetic, quiet, honest and humble.” “The ten Japanese men and women profiled have learned to live lightly upon the Earth,” declared Suzanne Kamata in the Japan Times, “with as little money as possible but with an abundance of time, which allows them to grow their own food, pursue creative endeavors, read, travel, revel in the beauty of nature and contemplate the meaning of life and death and the mysteries of the universe.”
The revision was necessary, Couturier explained in his introduction to The Abundance of Less, because of the Fukushima disaster in which a nuclear reactor meltdown caused a massive release of radioactive material into the environment. Many of the individuals Couturier interviewed were or are environmental activists and talking with them about the disaster gave him a new perspective on simple living. “So much discussion about ‘becoming more green’ seems to promise us that if we only make lifestyle tweaks, drive more efficient cars and install more and better solar panels, we can feel good about ourselves, keep our cushiness, and call it ‘sustainability,'” Couturier declared. “I think Fukushima has given us an opportunity to deeply consider whether the changes we need to make are simply reorienting our consumerism, or more fundamental,” choosing simplicity over modern complexity. “Without romanticizing traditional rural life,” concluded a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “Couturier illuminates the benefits of humility.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Couturier, Andy, A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance, Stone Bridge Press (Berkeley, CA), 2010, revised edition published as The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan, North Atlantic Books (Berkeley, CA), 2017.
PERIODICALS
Japan Times, September 9, 2017, Suzanne Kamata, “The Abundance of Less: New Edition Revisits Japanese Who Live with the Land.”
Publishers Weekly, June 12, 2017, review of The Abundance of Less. p 58.
Writer, September, 2006, Irene D’Souza, “2 Approaches to Fresher Writing,” p. 49
ONLINE
Abundance of Less Website, http://www.theabundanceofless.com (April 11, 2018), author profile.
Silicone Sutra, https://siliconsutra.com/ (November 10, 2017), review of The Abundance of Less.
Print Marked Items
2 approaches to fresher writing
Irene D'Souza
The Writer.
119.9 (Sept. 2006): p49.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Madavor Media
http://www.madavor.com
Full Text:
Writing Open the Mind: Tapping the Subconscious to Free the Writing and the Writer by Andy Couturier.
Ulysses Press, 244 pages. Paper $13.95.
IT IS DIFFICULT being an innovative writing instructor with an impish sense of humor, especially if the
target audience has been taught to deny their intuitive mind and focus mainly on their analytic powers. Andy
Couturier overcomes these problems. He is an essayist and teacher whose 42 mind-opening exercises were
developed in his writing workshops.
Employing a quirky razzle-dazzle style, Couturier charts a playful yet incisive course that unites good
writing techniques with the subconscious world. "It's a free zone, really, where freedom itself is examined,
and you create your own chutes and ladders, and learn how to make them out of manila envelopes and
pillboxes and soda cans, and then run them topics or stories or poems through the hamster wheel of your
own consciousness." He brings the mysteries of writing down to everyday experiences. These workable
systems are well-refined and delineated, the experiments easy to understand and fun to conduct, and the
results open the mind to go off on creative binges.
Focusing on the murky ethereal world of the subconscious, Couturier makes these tasks compelling. Few
seeking enlightenment could fail to be mesmerized and liberated by the alluring guide who loves to goof
around while summoning creativity.
The Tao of Writing: Imagine, Create, Flow by Ralph L. Wahlstrom. Adams Media Corp., 210 pages. Paper,
$12.95.
THE TAO OF Writing explores the art of visualization and examines the potential of discovering one's
innate writing capabilities, revealing that the muse, model and modeler reside within. This is not New Age
mumbo jumbo; rather it is an intriguing and incisive treatise submitted by Ralph L. Wahlstrom, who
believes that writing need not be arduous. "Writing is a combination of sensation, experience and
knowledge."
Wahlstrom is director of the writing program at Buffalo State College, and many of his tips have been finetuned
in his lectures. It is easy to imagine Wahlstrom as a compelling and creative communicator; his 12
principles of the Tao of Writing are simple elements designed to tap your creativity.
As the title suggests, Wahlstrom is keenly interested in the Eastern philosophy of Tao, a theme he explores
throughout the book. Wahlstorm offers guidance in applying Tao principles concretely: for example,
suggesting you practice feng shui to achieve harmony in your writing space.
Wahlstrom's gift is his talent for providing would-be writers with intoxicating instructions that pulse with a
life force and seem to defy previous learned skills. While those looking for academic theories and exercises
may not find Tao an intellectual guidebook, few will fail to be intrigued by this cerebral and sublime journey
of discovery.
Irene D'Souza, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is an arts writer and freelance book reviewer.
D'Souza, Irene
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
D'Souza, Irene. "2 approaches to fresher writing." The Writer, Sept. 2006, p. 49. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A148577463/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b2a01bee.
Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A148577463
The Abundance of Less: Lessons in
Simple Living from Rural Japan
Publishers Weekly.
264.24 (June 12, 2017): p58+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan
Andy Couturier. North Atlantic, $19.95 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-62317-132-2
Couturier ( Writing Open the Mind) offers 10 examples of simple modern lifestyles in Japan, including
those of artists, farmers, and philosophers. The author, who lived in Japan for four years in his mid-20s, met
everyday gurus there such as Atsuko Watanabe and her husband, potter and botanist Gufu, and visited their
farmstead in the mountains of Shikoku. Based on interviews carried out on multiple stays, these profiles,
which originally appeared in the Japan Times, are seamless narratives enlivened by photographs and
passages from the interviewees' writings. Some common themes that emerge are working with one's hands,
taking life more slowly, and striving for self-sufficiency. From woodblock craftsman Osamu Nakamura,
Couturier learns the appeal of living outside the cash economy, while "anarchist potter" San Oizumi teaches
him to "cherish the food you eat." Every chapter ends by catching up with the figure in question, considering
in particular how the Fukushima disaster affected them. The book ends with an excellent after-word telling
how Couturier has applied lessons learned in Japan to daily life on 27 acres of meadow and forest in
California. Without romanticizing traditional rural life, Couturier illuminates the benefits of humility. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan." Publishers Weekly, 12 June 2017, p.
58+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495720717/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c5f87abf. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495720717
Books / Reviews
‘The Abundance of Less’: New edition revisits Japanese who live with the land
by Suzanne Kamata
Special To The Japan Times
Sep 9, 2017
Article history
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Way before Marie Kondo taught us how to clean out our closets, American Andy Couturier was learning how to live without extra stuff from folks in rural Japan.
The Abundance of Less, by Andy Couturier
432 pages
NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS, Nonfiction.
Couturier, who shares some of this wisdom in “The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan,” was in his mid-20s when he first came to Japan at the height of the bubble economy with his partner, Cynthia. They had planned to teach English for a couple of years and save up to buy a plot of land in northern California, where they had dreams of building their own house and raising their own food.
Once in Japan, they settled in Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku, where they eventually became involved with a group of environmental activists. Couturier writes, “We were surprised to meet some entirely different types of people than the businessmen we were teaching.” Some of them eventually became subjects of the column Alternative Luxuries that Couturier wrote for The Japan Times in 1999-2000 and, later, of chapters in this book.
The 10 Japanese men and women profiled have learned to live lightly upon the Earth, with as little money as possible but with an abundance of time, which allows them to grow their own food, pursue creative endeavors, read, travel, revel in the beauty of nature and contemplate the meaning of life and death and the mysteries of the universe.
Among those introduced is the exuberant Kogan Murata, who derives great joy from playing ancient melodies on his bamboo flute. Murata lives with his partner and small son on an amazing ¥380,000 per year. They have no modern appliances and grow their own food. “It is a wonder to grow rice!” Murata exclaims in the book. “Exciting!”
Another chapter focuses on former experimental filmmaker, writer and philosopher Masanori Oe, whose father was a bunraku puppet-maker in Shikoku. As a child, Oe narrowly escaped death from the bombs of an American B-29. As an adult, he is the temporary custodian of a flame from the atomic blast in Hiroshima that has been passed from person to person. It burns in a lantern in his house as a reminder of “what happened that day and how it must not happen again.” He and his wife, Wakako, (also profiled in this book) now live in the mountains of central Honshu, where they grow rice and vegetables “without digging the soil or even pulling the weeds,” letting themselves be controlled by nature.
While living on the fringes of Japanese society, many of these individuals are nonetheless engaged in community life and the world at large. Community leader and anti-nuclear activist Atsuko Watanabe, for instance, famously convinced her fellow villagers in Kamikatsu to separate their garbage into over 40 categories. The Zero Waste Academy education center, which Watanabe helped to start, has attracted international media attention, bringing younger settlers who are helping to revitalize the town.
Couturier also interviews potter, anarchist and anti-nuclear activist San Oizumi, who invites him to a tea ceremony in the underground tearoom/nuclear fallout shelter that he dug by hand with a shovel and a wheelbarrow. Couturier notes that its very small size “permits only a single conversation … as if the room were designed as a support to our intentions to be in an authentic dialogue with each other.” After the tea ceremony, they discuss the room’s other purpose. Oizumi tells Couturier, “At any time another Chernobyl could happen.”
When asked what he might like to have more of, Couturier himself says: “Even more time to have long conversations with friends. Even more time to do my writing, though I’m pretty satisfied almost all of the time.”
This handsomely produced volume is a new edition of a book originally published in 2010, well before the meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011. In preparing for the new edition, Couturier visited eight of the subjects again (two are now deceased) to update the book and to find out how they understood and coped with the disaster in Fukushima. Couturier has also added never-before-published photos and an extensive afterword.
Now in his 50s, the author earns a living teaching sessions on “writing from the subconscious” and leads book-completion groups at his writing center, The Opening, in Santa Cruz, California. He has overseen the completion of over 200 books, over 70 of which have been published.
He lives part of the year on a piece of land “off the grid” in a house he and Cynthia made using only hand tools. From his window, he has seen bobcats padding by in the snow, and once, his secondhand car’s headlights caught a black bear beneath a pear tree. One recent spring, they witnessed the sudden appearance of dozens of fuchsia orchids.
Though living in nature is not without its difficulties — deer and gophers intrude in his garden and there is no internet or telephone service — Couturier maintains that the challenges have their own rewards.
The best of high tech and low tech to help you achieve simple, productive bliss.
Silicon|Sutra
Less, many times: A book review of “The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan,” by Andy Couturier
Untitled Design
I picked this book up at Kramerbooks in D.C. (if you haven’t been there, it’s a fun bookstore- not as much fun as my beloved Politics and Prose, but still great), partly because, like many people with too many first world problems, I’m trying to scale down. How lucky we are, those of us following the minimalist ideas of less stuff, simpler lives, to even have this choice!
I loved this book. Well, if I’m honest with myself, the first half of this book. The idea of the book is to explore the lifestyle and thought process of rural Japanese people, mostly elderly people, and how we might learn from them. The book reflects their lives- poetic, quiet, honest and humble. Many of the people are nuclear power protesters, and the book I picked up is a revised edition, with an update on the lives of these people post-Fukushima disaster. All of these people have opted to step out of the frenetic lifestyle of working, attending school, etc., from sun up to sun down in relentless pursuit of some external goal, for different, probably more authentic goals: time, family, connection with community, art, and slow living. While this is stepping outside the box in America, it’s REALLY stepping outside the box in Japan, and many of these individuals reported strong disapproval from their families. I admired them.
The problem for me was, halfway through the book, starting a new chapter, I started to dread the story: the individual as a young person, protested nuclear power/landfill/environmental problems, and decides to go against their families’ advice to:
travel to Tibet/India/Nepal to
study traditional weaving/traditional calligraphy/traditional religious texts/traditional music,
then decided to come back when Tibet/India/Nepal became too modernized, and
lived in the mountains in Japan where they
raise their own food/work the land/play music/do aforementioned traditional craft in Japan.
In the end, I felt that I could probably read half the book, and get the same story, only half as many times- is there an editor in the house??
I think there’s a way to read this without getting burned out with the similarity of the stories: don’t read it the way I did. Read the book a chapter at a time, savor their story, and then give the book a rest. By the time you come back to it in a few weeks or months, you won’t recall that the last person had almost exactly the same story, and you’ll feel the same way about the book when I started it: inspired by the peace, quiet, and rough edges of the simplicity of these lives.
If you’re interested in reading this book, I’ve attached the affiliate link to Amazon below.
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Author: lisayoung57
I’m a Board Certified psychiatrist, practicing on the East Coast of the US. I started this blog because I love planning, efficiency, minimalism, and technology, but am also strongly interested in making life better! I strongly believe that personal technology can make our lives easier, and minimize the time we do things that are less important to us. I hope you’ll come along on the journey with me of how to combine high-tech and the best of low-tech to make our lives better. I love Apple products, and will write about about uses for them in my own life and others on these pages. I am not affiliated with Apple, or any other company. Other things I like to do are read, meditate, drink coffee and tea, travel, hike, cook and spend time with my husband and two children. I have recently written a textbook chapter for Oxford University Press. View all posts by lisayoung57
Author lisayoung57Posted on November 10, 2017Categories book reviews, Lo-techTags Book review, Japan, minimalism, scaling down, simplicity, The Abundance of Less, voluntary simplicity