PURCHASE TICKETS
$40 Reserved Section + Book
$20 General Admission Section

*** Make an afternoon of it.  Ticket includes admission to the museum, which opens at 11am.

— Pico Iyer Reflects on a Quarter-Century of Life in Japan, New York Times book review, April 22, 2019

Pico Iyer is the author of eight works of nonfiction and two novels. A writer for Time since 1982, he is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, and many other magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific. He splits his time between Nara, Japan, and the United States.  His books include Video Night in Kathmandu (cited on many lists of the best travel books ever), The Lady and the Monk,  The Global Soul, The Man Within My Head, The Open Road, The Art of Stillness and Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells.  His novels are Cuba and the Night and Abandon.

Pico Iyer has previously appeared on the Live Talks Los Angeles. He was interviewed by Lisa Napoli on the impact of the modern era of connectedness on our ability to think, create, and participate in the world (video).  He also interviewed Chris Anderson, Curator of TED (video), Andrew McCarthy (video), Paul Theroux (video), and Matthieu Ricard (video).

Aimee Liu is the author of the forthcoming novel Glorious Boy. Her other novels include Flash House; Cloud Mountain; and Face. Her memoirs include Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders and Solitaire. A past president of the national literary organization PEN Center USA, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Bennington College and is on the faculty of Goddard College’s MFA in Creative Writing Program at Port Townsend, WA. She previously interviewed Amy Tan at Live Talks Los Angeles.

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.”—Pico Iyer

From the acclaimed author of The Art of Stillness--one of our most engaging and discerning travel writers–a unique, indispensable guide to the enigma of contemporary Japan.

After thirty-two years in Japan, Pico Iyer can use everything from anime to Oscar Wilde to show how his adopted home is both hauntingly familiar and the strangest place on earth. “Arguably the world’s greatest living travel writer” (Outside). He draws on readings, reflections, and conversations with Japanese friends to illuminate an unknown place for newcomers, and to give longtime residents a look at their home through fresh eyes. A Beginner’s Guide to Japan is a playful and profound guidebook full of surprising, brief, incisive glimpses into Japanese culture. Iyer’s adventures and observations as he travels from a meditation-hall to a love-hotel, from West Point to Kyoto Station, make for a constantly surprising series of provocations guaranteed to pique the interest and curiosity of those who don’t know Japan, and to remind those who do of the wide range of fascinations the country and culture contain.