Author

Takeshi Kitagawa

@shibumi4011

articles: 18
total claps: 511
top claps: 158
avg read: 8.2 min
paywalled: 16
active: 2026-04-18 → 2026-07-14

Wiki topics

PHI · Philosophy · 13 CUL · Culture & Media · 8 🧘 · Spirituality · 7 PSY · Mental Health & Psychiatry · 3 BIZ · Business Strategy · 2 SOC · Sociology & Politics · 2 DSN · Design · General · 2 ⚖️ · Law & Justice · 2

Top tags

#aesthetics ·10 #bushido ·9 #zen ·6 #japanese-philosophy ·6 #philosophy ·5 #japanese-culture ·5 #meditation ·4 #thoughts ·3 #mindfulness ·3 #japan ·3

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

Editorial Afterword — The Pillar That Doesn’t Fall: On the People Who Lived Bushido Without Knowing…

A closing essay for the Bushido Virtue Series

Jun 21, 2026 · 10 min read · 158 claps paywalled #tsunami #japanese-philosophy #human-virtue

Editorial Afterword — The Pillar That Doesn’t Fall: On the People Who Lived Bushido Without Knowing…

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

Bushido Was Written About an Ideal — And the Samurai Were Human: A Note on What This Series Did and…

On Nitobe Inazo, the gap between virtue and history, and why that gap doesn’t diminish the questions.

Jun 22, 2026 · 7 min read · 101 claps paywalled #bushido #idealism #criticism

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa

誠 (Makoto) — The Virtue of Not Lying to Yourself: What the Tylenol Crisis Reveals About Sincerity…

On Bushido’s fifth virtue — why sincerity is not about honesty, what a 1982 product recall teaches leaders today, and how trust is built in…

Jun 15, 2026 · 11 min read · 56 claps paywalled #bushido #tylenol-crisis #leadership

誠 (Makoto) — The Virtue of Not Lying to Yourself: What the Tylenol Crisis Reveals About Sincerity…

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · Know Thyself, Heal Thyself

Thirty Years of Zen, and I Still Can’t Tell You If It Works

Everyone from Tom Hanks to the app on your phone now promises meditation will change you in five minutes. After thirty years near Zen, here…

Jul 06, 2026 · 7 min read · 53 claps paywalled #meditation #zen #mindfulness

Thirty Years of Zen, and I Still Can’t Tell You If It Works

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

Bushido Is Not a Self-Help Book — It’s a Mirror: What Nitobe Inazo’s The Soul of Japan Actually…

Why productivity methods fail without moral foundation — and what the samurai understood that most self-improvement culture doesn’t.

Jun 20, 2026 · 9 min read · 50 claps paywalled #self-improvement #japanese-philosophy #bushido

Bushido Is Not a Self-Help Book — It’s a Mirror: What Nitobe Inazo’s The Soul of Japan Actually…

HUM DSN

TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

Did We Ever Actually Like Bright Lights? (Diarogue)

A Conversation About Tanizaki, Shadows, and the Aesthetics We Forgot We Had

Jun 03, 2026 · 8 min read · 30 claps paywalled #japan #japanese-culture #aesthetics

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

The Sadness You Were Already Expecting

On impermanence, the petals on the ground, and why we keep showing up

Apr 18, 2026 · 6 min read · 13 claps #hanami #zen #mono-no-aware

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa

仁 (Jin) — The Virtue Japan Is Losing: What Benevolence Means When a Society Stops Seeing People

On Bushido’s highest virtue — why Nitobe placed 仁 above all others, what happens when it disappears, and why no law can replace it.

Jun 04, 2026 · 12 min read · 12 claps paywalled #bushido #humanity #morality

仁 (Jin) — The Virtue Japan Is Losing: What Benevolence Means When a Society Stops Seeing People

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa

忠義 (Chūgi) — The Man Who Won Le Mans and Lost the Trophy: What Ken Miles Reveals About the Loyalty…

On Bushido’s final virtue — why blind obedience is not loyalty, what a racing driver’s greatest race teaches about conscience over…

Jun 17, 2026 · 10 min read · 10 claps paywalled #japanese-culture #leadership #business-ethics

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa

名誉 (Meiyo) — The Man Who Wanted Honor So Badly He Lost It: What Bushido Really Means by Reputation…

On Bushido’s sixth virtue — why pursuing honor is the surest way to lose it, what a television lawyer reveals about a samurai ideal, and…

Jun 16, 2026 · 10 min read · 10 claps paywalled #bushido #japanese-philosophy #honor

名誉 (Meiyo) — The Man Who Wanted Honor So Badly He Lost It: What Bushido Really Means by Reputation…

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · Readers Club

What D.T. Suzuki Wrote Ninety Years Ago — Does It Still Matter?

A question I keep circling, and can’t honestly answer.

May 24, 2026 · 8 min read · 10 claps #zen #thoughts #enlightenment

What D.T. Suzuki Wrote Ninety Years Ago — Does It Still Matter?

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · A-Culturated

The Care That Refuses to Be Spoken

In Japan, the kindest thing we do for a stranger is also the thing that leaves them most alone

Jul 14, 2026 · 7 min read · 3 claps paywalled #writing-prompts #culture #japan

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa

The Man Who Chose the Hard Way: Reading Yoshikawa’s Musashi as a Mirror

What Yoshikawa’s Musashi Taught Me About the Enemy I Carry Everywhere

Jun 11, 2026 · 7 min read · 2 claps paywalled #aesthetics #miyamoto-musashi #philosophy

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

The River Is Still There — Even When You’re Not Looking (Diarogue)

A conversation about meditation, attention, and the season you almost missed.

Jun 06, 2026 · 7 min read · 1 claps paywalled #zen #meditation #mindfulness

The River Is Still There — Even When You’re Not Looking (Diarogue)

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa

The Contract Says Nothing About That (Diarogue)

A conversation about Makoto (誠) and Shin (信) — sincerity and trust

Jun 06, 2026 · 6 min read · 1 claps paywalled #sincerity #trust #aesthetics

The Contract Says Nothing About That (Diarogue)

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · Readers Club

Makoto and Shin: The Samurai Who Kept His Word Even When No One Was Watching

Part Five of the Bushido Virtue Series

Jun 07, 2026 · 6 min read · 1 claps paywalled #sincerity #trust #aesthetics

Makoto and Shin: The Samurai Who Kept His Word Even When No One Was Watching

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · ILLUMINATION

You Don’t Need to Empty Your Mind

On meditation, muscle training, and the kind of change you can’t see in the mirror.

Jun 05, 2026 · 9 min read · 0 claps paywalled #zen #mindfulness #meditation

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TA Takeshi Kitagawa · Readers Club

The Light We Forgot to Leave Out

What Tanizaki Jun’ichiro Knew About Beauty That We’ve Spent a Century Unlearning.

Jun 02, 2026 · 6 min read · 0 claps paywalled #japan #japanese-culture #design