Two minds were of Sri Aurobindo and of Sri Ma (The Mother, Mirra Alfa- ssa) of Puducherry. Sri Aurobindo was Indias great rev- olutionary, poet, thinker and yogi of the 20th century. The Mother, Mirra Alfassa was his spiritual collaborator. But then, why did the conflu- ence of these two souls happen in India? Because, as Sri Ma said, Even though the Soul may be one everywhere, it is so in a spe- cial way in India which has a high spiritual mission on Earth. The effect of such a conflu- ence was that they together undertook a formidable evolu- tionary experiment aiming at a most explicit One-ness, which exists not by suppressing variety but, instead, an infinitely wide and comprehensive conscious- ness takes up in itself, assimi- lates and furthers all manifesta- tions of multiplicity without los- ing itself in the process. Sri Ma (Mother) took charge of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, which was established with the main purpose of instituting the spirit of spiritualism in the minds of people, for improving their level of consciousness for a real and meaningful growth. She initiated the disciples into the new consciousness which Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. Both Sri Ma and Sri Auro- bindo gave more stress and fo- cus on consciousness and na- ture of earth through the path of spiritual life. Sri Aurobindo said, Any one who wants the spiritual life, should need to know that there is a soul within and above there is Grace (From Nirodbarans Correspondence with Sri Auro- bindo, 21.1.1936). Sri Aurobindo further said, It is a spiritual principle not to take away any faith or support of faith unless the persons who have it are able to replace it by something larger and more complete (CWSA 29: 365). Being spiritual means being conscious. A person with a high level of consciousness can con- trol and by continuing the mas- tery, one changes ones charac- ter, which is essential for inner transformation and improving the psychic being and psycho- logical health. In order to attain true con- sciousness, one has to go deeper within and bring out the full force of the psychic into the physical. It can be done by work, by dedication, by doing the work for the Divine only without thought of self. (Letters on Yoga, Vol. 23, pp. 738-39). Thread- bare analysis of the views and thou- ghts of Sri Ma and Sri Aurobindo wo- uld lay bare their main objectives for emphasizing on improvement of conscious- ness of the individual and then gradual transformation of the people in a society as a whole. The mission was for con- current spiritual and economic development of India. How deep their aspiration to this effect was would be clear from the follow- ing two statements: In the next great stage of human progress, it is not a material but a spiritual, moral and psychical advance that has to be made and for this a free Asia and in Asia a free India must take the lead (Sri Auro- bindo, CWSA 6 : 572) and India is the country where the psychic law can and must rule and the time has come for that here. Besides, it is the only possi- ble salvation for this country whose consciousness has unfor- tunately been distorted by the influence and domination of a foreign nation, but which, in spite of everything, possesses unique spiritual heritage (Sri Ma, CWM 13 : 370). The two minds could assess that the materialism of modern times had turned the people from the spiritual life to the world of materialistic tendency and this had cau- sed humanity to be far from having progressed. In the Second World War, Sri Au- robindo put all his force behind the Allies and not be- hind Hitler. For the victory of Hit- ler would mean a powerful setback in evolution and entail the subjec- tion not only of all Europe, but ulti- mately of Asia itself, whilst a vic- tory of the Allies would keep all possibilities open for further evolution. Sri Aurobindo wrote in a letter: Even if I knew that the Allies would misuse their victory or bungle the peace I would still put my force behind them. At any rate things could not be one-hundredth part as bad as they would be under Hitler. The ways of the Lord would still be open ~ to keep them open is what matters. The partition of India and the creation of Pakistan was, in Aurobindos vision a grave human error and not divinely intended. In the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the true India would have included Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Burma. Sri Aurobindo is probably the only spiritual philosopher who believed that mankind had a terrestrial future ~ a life of ful- filment here on earth. Out of the three narrative poems he wrote, namely, Urva- sie; Love and Death and Savitri, Savitri had a special fascination for Sri Aurobindo. In the first two stories, love triumphs over death but the price paid is life on earth. In Sav- itri, however, Savitris love tri- umphs. She comes back to earth to live her life with Satyaban. She does not sacrifice life on earth. Such was the love for earth and India displayed by Sri Ma and Sri Aurobindo. In his message written on 15 August 1947, Sri Aurobindo said, among other things, India would now play a greater role in the progress of human civilisa- tion; the rise of a new, a greater, brighter and nobler life for mankind which for its entire realisation would rest outwardly on an international unification of the separate existence of the people, preserving and securing their national life but drawing them together into an overrid- ing and consummating one- ness In conclusion, it can be said without ambiguity that the meeting of the two minds has evolved the means of transform- ing society by means of propa- gating the concept of spirituality as a means of improving ones level of consciousness at a micro level and then expanding it at a macro level so much so that an individuals growth becomes concomitant to the growth of the society. It is now up to us and the government to adopt those views of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo to find a new India which will lead the world.

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Meeting of Minds - The Statesman

Delhi recorded very poor air quality today which marks sixth consecutive day for AQI to be in 300-400 range. An average hourly Air Quality Index of 388 was registered at 11 am today, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

Also read: IMD issues Orange Alert for very heavy rain, thunderstorms in these four states till 23 November. See full forecast

Yesterday, an AQI of 395 was registered at 4 pm. According to the Union Earth Sciences Ministrys Early Warning System, the subsequent six days will witness very poor air quality with minimal significant change.

Also read: Delhi air quality very poor, AQI at 348; no relief from high pollution levels for next few days

Over the last two days, cold north-westerly winds have led to a fall in temperature creating a favourable atmosphere for smog-filled air. On November 23, wind direction was expected to switch to easterly. Delhi recorded the season's lowest temperature today of 9.2 degrees Celsius today morning with a minimum temperature of 10.4 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature to be around 27.6 degrees Celsius.

Also read: Heavy rain batters Tamil Nadu, schools shut; orange alert in parts of Kerala

As per data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) most stations around Delhi registered severe and very poor air quality at 11 am that is in the range 300-500 on a scale of 500. In North Campus AQI stood at 482, in Dwarka-Sector 8 AQI stood at 412, in IGI Airport (T3) AQI stood at 402, in R K Puram AQI stood at 415, in Mundka AQI stood at 420, in Punjabi Bagh AQI stood at 426, in Nehru Nagar AQI stood at 424, in Wazirpur AQI stood at 423 and in Rohini AQI stood at 413.

Also read: Tamil Nadu rains: All govt, private schools in THESE districts shut today due to heavy rainfall

Locations where very poor air quality was recorded include Mandir Marg where AQI stood at 390, New Moti Bagh where AQI stood at 388, Ashok Vihar where AQI stood at 386, Sirifort where AQI stood at 385, Pusa where AQI stood at 385, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium where AQI stood at 384, Sri Aurobindo Marg where AQI stood at 379, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium where AQI stood at 378, DTU where AQI stood at 369, Najafgarh where AQI stood at 365, Lodhi Road where AQI stood at 354, ITO where AQI stood at 346, Arya Nagar where AQI stood at 341, Aya Nagar where AQI stood at 339 and Shadipur where AQI stood at 334.

Western disturbances are expected to bring rainfall on November 27 and a dip in average temperature to around 10 degrees Celsius is expected in the coming days followed by a rise by 1-2 degrees Celsius.

Scientist Kuldeep SrivastavaWinds have remained northwesterly over the last two days, but it will become variable once more from Thursday, fluctuating between easterly, southeasterly, and northeasterly over the next two days, thus halting the dip in mercury," reported HT. He further added, Western disturbance will impact Delhi on November 27, with chances of a drizzle in some parts," which will lead to a further dip in temperature. IMD forecasted haze to blanket Delhi again on November 28.

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Delhi struggles with very poor air quality for 6th day in a row; Check when will rain wash off pollution fears | Mint - Mint

Express News Service | Published: 23rd November 2023 10:43 AM President Droupadi Murmu and AP Governor S Abdul Nazeer during the convocation of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in Puttaparthi on Wednesday | Express

ANANTAPUR: Spirituality is Indias invaluable contribution to the world, said President of India Droupadi Murmu. Participating as a chief guest at the 42nd convocation of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in Puttaparthi on Wednesday, she said that from time to time, great spiritual figures have spread the message of virtue, compassion and philanthropy.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba was one such great personality who sanctified the area of Puttaparthi. Millions of people have been and will continue to benefit from his blessings, the President added. Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer and minister KV Usha Sricharan also attended the programme.

The President said that she was happy to note that Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning gives fundamental importance to human and spiritual values. Murmu further lauded the institutes holistic vision towards education and the concept of edu-care.

Expressing confidence that students of the Institute will succeed in developing professionally sound, socially responsible and spiritually aware personalities, Murmu said that they are expected to spread the values and teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and present examples of spiritual growth along with modern development.

Sharing her personal experience of teaching at the Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre in Rairangpur of Odisha, the President said, The main goal of Integral Education is to transmit the life values of truth, good conduct, peace, affection, and non-violence in the life of every student. Later, President Droupadi Murmu conferred 21 Gold Medals on the qualifying students who achieved distinction in various disciplines.

Governor Abdul Nazeer in his address said, The Institute is a beacon of light for value-based Integral education in this country. He congratulated the students and said that he believed the values imbibed here are making a positive impact on society and that the students have a greater responsibility to live the message of true education as they step out into the world.

He said the culture of Bharat is based on the eternal truth which is unaffected by time and place, unshaken by circumstances, unchanged by historical changes, and untouched by natural calamities. The President, the Governor and other dignitaries were received by Chancellor K Chakravarthi, and Vice-Chancellor Prof B Raghavendra Prasad and Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust managing trustee RJ Rathnakar.

Raghavendra Prasad shared a summary of the activities by the various departments and by the Institute during the previous academic year and to date. He highlighted the implementation of the new four-year programmes in alignment with the NEP 2020, the institutes focus on emerging technologies, strides made on the Industry-academia connect, and the establishment of the Centres for Excellence.

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Spirituality is Indias gift to world: President Droupadi Murmu - The New Indian Express

Earlier this year, A. R. Rahman's eldest daughter Khatija Rahman made her debut as a music composer with the Tamil film 'Minmini' and in no time, Khatija is on her way to the International stage as a composer. The songstress is making her International debut for the UK-Indian film 'Lioness' which is set to release in 2025. But with all this news, do you really know who Khatija Rahman is? Let's introduce you to her!

Early life

Khatija Rahman was born to the Oscar-Award-winning musician A. R. Rahman and his wife Saira Banu on 29 December 1995. Khatija completed her schooling in Chennai and later enrolled in Stella Maris College in Chennai for a Bachelor in Commerce. After her graduation, the singer-composer completed her Bachelors and Masters in Islamic Studies from B.S. Abdur Rahman College. She has also completed a course in Music Business Management from Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication in Delhi.

Personal life

Khatija Rahman tied the knot with Riyasdeen Shaik Mohamed in 2022 who is an audio engineer. According to various reports, he has collaborated with AR Rahman and Amit Trivedi on several international tours and concerts. Khatija described her fiance as an aspiring entrepreneur and a wizkid audio engineer.

Meanwhile, Khatija has always been on the receiving end of trolls for donning a Burqa at all times. But not one to take it all, Khatija had once shared on social media, "Every time this topic comes the fire in me rages and makes me want to say a lot of things. Over the last one year, Ive found a different version of myself which I havent seen in so many years. I will not be weak or regret the choices Ive made in life. I am happy and proud of what I do and thanks to those who have accepted me the way I am. My work will speak, God willing.. I dont wish to say any further. To those of you who feel why Im even bringing this up and explaining myself, sadly it so happens and one has to speak for oneself, thats why Im doing it.

A. R. Rahman, on the other hand had said in an interview, Khatija reflects the purity I want to achieve. She reminds me of my growing-up years. She is very clear about what she wants to do with her life and has travelled across the world, but never faced anything for wearing a niqab. Shes quite cool about it.

Musical career

Khatija made her playback debut with the 2010 sci-fi action film Enthiran, singing the title track in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. Later, in 2020, she released her single 'Farishton' which was recognised at multiple global film festivals and received an honourable mention at the 2021 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. Apart from this, Khatija has also sung A. R. Rahman's powerful 2022 Tamil anthem 'Moopilla Thamizhe Thaaye' and 'Chinnanjiru' from the Mani Ratnam historic drama 'Ponniyin Selvan: II.'

The talented artist also ventured into composing music with the Tamil film 'Minmini' which will release in 2024. Apart from this, she has also making her International debut as a music composer with the film 'Lioness' and we wait in awe as A. R. Rahman's daughter is all set to take on the music world, just like her legendary father.

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Everything to know about A. R. Rahmans daughter Khatija Rahman - Mirchi Plus

Express News Service | Published: 24th November 2023 09:17 AM FILE - YSRCP MP K Raghurama Krishna Raju. (Photo | EPS)

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday issued notices to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, YSRC Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy, YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Energy Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, and AP State Beverages Corporation Managing Director Vasudev Reddy in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by rebel YSRC MP from Narasapur K Raghurama Krishna Raju seeking CBI inquiry into the decisions and policies of the YSRC government.

Stating that before hearing the PIL, it was better to issue Notice Before Admission, the court has issued notices to a total of 41 respondents in the case. The court registry was directed to issue notices and the hearing was posted to December 14.

Notices were also issued to Jagati Publications Limited director Vemireddy Sridhar Reddy, Indira Television Private Limited director K Raja Prasad, Bharathi Cement Corporation director Govindappa Balaji, Sagar Cements Limited director O Rekha, India Cements Limited director Srinivasan, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited director Bharat Bhushan Mehta, Penna Cements director P Pratap Reddy, My Home Industries director Rameswara Rao, Sri Jayajothi Cements, directors of Bharathi Polymers India Private Limited, Aurobindo Pharma Foundation, Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure Private Limited, Jayaprakash Power Ventures, Ramky Infrastructure, Turnkey Enterprises, AP Beverages Corporation, Grecian Distilleries, Sun Rays Bottling and Beverages, SPY Agro Industries (Bottling), B9 Beverages, Sentini BioProducts and RR Global Enterprises.

These people were accused of receiving benefits from the Jagan Mohan Reddy governments decisions.

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Rebel YSRC MP files PIL in HC, notices issued to Jagan, 40 others - The New Indian Express

I am not an expert on Zen Buddhism. However, even if I had spent decades of my life studying its tenets (instead of, for example, baseball stats from the 1920s), I would hesitate to call myself an expert because of what would be my resulting adherence to shoshin, the Zen Buddhist concept of the beginners mind. Shoshin encourages its practitioners to approach their studies as beginners, and cautions against the arrogance and dogmatism that often characterize the self-proclaimed expert who assumes he already knows all there is to know about a subject.

Lawyers and legal professionals, in particular, would do well to adopt a measure of shoshin in the practice of their chosen pursuit, in which no matter how much expertise one has acquired over their years of experience, they are only one appellate decision away from looking like a complete fool.

Take the question of intestate succession for stepchildren, for example. For decades, the experienced probate attorney has been able to rely on Probate Code section 6454, which dictates that a stepchild may inherit from their intestate stepparent only if: (1) the parent-child relationship began during the stepchilds minority and continued throughout the stepparent and stepchilds joint lifetimes; and (2) clear and convincing evidence shows that stepparent would have adopted stepchild but for a legal barrier.

Simple and straightforward the stepchild is either an intestate heir or they are not. The experienced probate expert can answer the question of intestate succession with ease and be on the golf course twenty minutes later.

Not so fast, says Estate of Martino (2023) 96 Cal.App.5th 596.

Estate of Martino sure looked like an easy case. Petitioner Nick Zambito, stepchild to decedent Nick Martino, petitioned to be deemed an heir to his intestate stepfather. Martinos biological children objected. But Zambito and his stepsiblings agreed on essentially all of the relevant facts though Zambito and his stepfather maintained a father-son relationship through virtually the entirety of Zambitos lifetime, up to and including the stepfathers final days, it was undisputed that there was no legal barrier that prevented the stepfather from adopting his stepson. Accordingly, there was no way that Zambito could meet the requirements of section 6454, and, consequently, no way for him to establish intestate heirship.

Case closed! shouts the probate expert, who proceeds to turn off all of the lights on his way out to hit the links.

But the true practitioner of shoshin, and more importantly the Court of Appeal, believed otherwise. The Court turned its volume of the Probate Code back just one page and found section 6453, which says that a natural parent and child relationship is established where that relationship is presumed and not rebutted pursuant to the Uniform Parentage Act, which commences in section 7600 of the Family Code. Pulling its volume of the Family Code off the shelf, the Court found section 7611, which notes that a person is presumed to be the natural parent of a child if, among other things, the presumed parent receives the child intotheirhome and openly holds out the child astheirnatural child.

At this point, the probate expert is red-faced and choking, screaming into the wind. But section 7611 has nothing to do with intestate succession! he shouts. Its only been used to govern unrelated parent-child issues, like visitation rights, custody disputes, and standing to pursue wrongful death actions! In contrast, Probate Code section 6454 explicitly applies to intestate succession! (To his credit, the probate expert is articulate even when frothing with rage.)

The Court of Appeal did not share the experts concerns. The Court instead felt the need to apply California Supreme Court precedent and harmonize the various statutes, to give force and effect to all of their provisions . . . even where, as here, one of the statutes involved deals generally with a subject and another relates specifically to particular aspects of the subject. The Court reasoned that because section 6454 did not expressly hold itself out as the exclusive means by which a stepchild may establish intestate heirship, there was nothing to bar the use of section 6453 and Family Code section 7611 as an alternate means. That is, even if a stepchild did not meet the narrow requirements for intestate heirship under section 6454, he or she could still take the roundabout way to heirship through Family Code section 7611.

Ultimately, the Court of Appeal affirmed that Zambito had standing to pursue heirship of his stepfathers intestate estate based on the lower courts factual findings that the stepfather had both taken Zambito into his home and held him out to the world as his own son. As a result, a stepchilds road to intestate heirship is no longer quite as narrow, or as simple, as it was once thought to be. Where once there was only one pathway to heirship, now there are (at least) two. Score another win for shoshin.

[View source.]

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Experts Beware: Estate of Martino and a Zen Buddhist Approach to ... - JD Supra

Japan Art and Horses (Zen Buddhism)

Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The stunning print of a horse and sled by Kawano Kaoru(1916-1965)highlights the independent spirit of this esteemed individual.

His early childhood during the Taisho Period (1912-1926) impacted his thought patterns. Kawano belongs to thesosaku hanga(creative prints)movement that enabled individualism and creativity to a higher degree within the traditional settings of printmaking during the Edo Period.

Aoyama Seizan (print above) produced amazing Zen-style horses in the 1920s and 1930s. However, little is known about this unique individual.

He understood the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra. Henceforth, his art pieces of horses pertain to a different law of movement that transcends reality.

Nichiren said,Life is indeed an elusive reality that transcends both the words and concepts of existence and nonexistence. It is neither existence nor nonexistence, yet exhibits the qualities of both. It is the mystic entity of the Middle Way that is the ultimate reality. Myo is the name given to the mystic nature of life, and Ho, to its manifestations. Renge, which means lotus flower, is used to symbolize the wonder of this Law. If we understand that our life at this moment is Myo, then we will also understand that our life at other moments is the Mystic Law.

The final print is by Maekawa Senpan (1888-1960). He studied oil painting under Asai Ch and other instructors at the Kansai Art Academy. However, Maekawa moved on to thesosaku hanga(creative prints)artistic movement.

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Japan Art and Horses (Zen Buddhism) Modern Tokyo Times - Modern Tokyo Times

Glass flowers nestled inside hunks of glass finely shaven down with diamonds. A mesmerizing orb that appears to be floating, but is in fact just a two-dimensional acrylic painting on canvas.

At the entrance to "Fooling the Eye: Optics of Vasarely and Kuhn," visitors will notice an array of small glass orbs and paperweights that look like they have actual flowers inside. But it's all an optical illusion, an imaginary world embedded in glass created by artist Paul J. Stankard.

"[Stankard] is really known for hidden details, so if you look at the roots of some of the pieces, they have hidden figures and then the mirror helps reflect the bottom of them so that you see the faces and things like that," said Cafesjian Art Trust Museum Executive Director Andy Schlauch.

Inside the gallery, there are more than 40 works by two artists who are known for creating optical illusions in their art. Glass artist Jon Kuhn's laborious glass sculptures, many of which take several years to complete, often have geometrical designs embedded in them and reflect slices of rainbow-tinted light onto the floor and the walls, and are influenced by Eastern philosophies. Hungarian-born artist Victor Vasarely (1906-1997) is known as the grandfather of Op Art the 1960s movement where artists used geometric shapes and perspectives to create eye-bending visual effects.

The majority of the work in this show comes from the Cafesjian Art Trust Museum's collection, which houses more than 3,000 works of primarily glass art.

"Kuhn reveals things in his work, and Vasarely plays with your depth perception," Schlauch said. "I thought it would be fun for people to learn about how artists figure out how the brain works before psychologists even did in the 1960s, which led to the Op Art Movement, but artists have been doing it since the Renaissance."

A visual connection

Often, the two artists play off each other, even though they weren't necessarily in each other's lives, though this is the second time that Kuhn and Vasarely have been in an exhibition together. The first time was at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City, Mich., that also happened to be Kuhn's first museum show.

In Kuhn's rainbow-hued "Joseph Ribbon," 2019-2022, he shapes glass into a twisting line, creating various deep angles, then affixes it atop a silver stand that one can spin (but only in specific ways, lest the glass get scratched). Kuhn's sculpture feels like a physical manifestation of Vasarely's optical illusionary paintings "Gestalt MC," 1980, a checkered seemingly three-dimensional cube, and "Kezdi (Start)," 1990, a similar cube but with lines of color.

Kuhn, who speaks with a slight Southern accent and is based in North Carolina, got into glassmaking accidentally. He was originally a potter, then a furniture designer. He was working on a master's degree in furniture design and the department head was a glass blower, and he got curious about glass. After the first semester, he realized he was spending more time in the glass studios than the woodshop and switched to glass. At the time, he felt it better fit his personality.

"I am philosophical, but woodworkers seemed more philosophical than glass blowers," Kuhn said last week at the museum. "Glass blowers are more mercurial."

Kuhn's three-part series, "Untitled," 2012, "Blue Line," 2012, and "Grand Disruption," 2013-2015, a series of framed glass works, some of which look like sound waves made of tiny diamonds, was inspired by his divorce. He has since remarried.

"It was all chaotic in the middle, then going in opposite directions," Kuhn said, pointing to the triptych of framed artworks. "And then this one went in opposite directions but toward the end, there's order."

Despite being a glass artist, Kuhn is still interested in philosophy.

"I started with Zen Buddhism and moved to Confucianism and I Ching, and I've meditated for most of my life, and now I do a lot of breathing meditation," he said. "I don't follow any particular teacher or guru or anything. After a while, you realize that it's all in the breath."

'Fooling the Eye: Optics of Vasarely and Kuhn' |Where: Cafesjian Art Trust Museum, 4600 Churchill St., Shoreview When: Ends May 4. Info: cafesjianarttrust.org or 612-359-8991. Cost: Free. Hours: The museum is open for tours only at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Thu.-Sat. Make a reservation via cafesjianarttrust.org or 612-359-8991.

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Optical illusion art on display at Cafesjian Art Trust Museum in ... - Star Tribune

The Asian country was one of the last destinations to fully relax its pandemic travel restrictions, but is wide open once again

My elevated viewpoint is from my room at Hotel Groove Shinjuku one of two hotels in the new 48-story skyscraper (the other is Bellustar Tokyo), which has bars, restaurants and cinemas. Tokyu Kabukicho Tower opened in May in Shinjuku one of Tokyos liveliest areas, as I discover when stepping outside to explore. Everything hits all my senses at once. Its around 34C, and there are crowds of people walking in every direction many under parasols for shade from the sun. Every building has rows of colourful signs, and there are billboards high up playing noisy ads. The air is filled with tempting food aromas.

Theres so much to take in. The black and white pedestrian crossing is the widest Ive ever seen; the streets are spotless. Theres a sign for an Inu (dog) caf. You can rent an umbrella. Electronic music blares from gaming centres. Everything is huge Shinjuku is Japans largest entertainment district, with thousands of bars and restaurants. Its train station is so busy (around 3.6m people a day pre-Covid), its in the Guinness Book of Records.

Kabukicho tower in Tokyo. Picture: Y Kuronuma

Apart from the new skyscraper, Im interested to see what has changed since the pandemic my last visit was in February 2020, just before Japan closed its borders for two-and-a-half years (it lifted the last of its vaccination and testing requirements in April of this year).

On my first morning in Tokyo, I visit some of the citys most popular sites. The first is TeamLab Planets (teamlab.art), an art museum with live installations you can walk through.With your entire body, immerse, perceive and become one with the art reads a sign at the entrance. Some of the rooms are filled with knee-deep water where koi fish dart along the surface. Others have thousands of flowers. The Infinite Crystal Universe has thousands of LED lights. Its a thrilling experience and of course, an Instagrammers paradise.

Another Insta hotspot is Shibuya Scramble the famous pedestrian crossing which sees up to 300,000 people a day. Its fun to cross with the crowd. Viewing it from Shibuya Sky, on the top of the Shibuya Scramble Square skyscraper, the people look like tiny ants.

Its easy to get to and around Tokyo. I flew from Dublin to Haneda via Helsinki with Finnair, theres a direct bus from the airport to Kabukicho Tower and the subway system is efficient. But Tokyo is busy, so Im thankful to meet tour guide Kenji KJ Murakami from Inside Japan, who knows where to go. To get away from the crowds, he suggests Meiji Shrine, a Shinto shrine surrounded by forest in the city.

The executive room at Hotel Groove Shinjuku Tokyo

As we step through the Tori entrance gate, we bow to the deities as we pass symbolically from the ordinary world into the sacred one. We walk along peaceful tree-lined paths and KJ tells me stories of Japans emperors, Samurai and Shogun rulers. The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji, who contributed much to the modernisation of Japan after the Edo period of seclusion ended in 1868. Thousands of trees and an inner garden with a lily pond and teahouse make it feel like a rural retreat.

KJ says more things are becoming automated in Tokyo because of the manpower shortage, especially since the pandemic. We see an unmanned convenience store and a sushi bar where the food circulates on conveyor belts. Theres a long wait for a table, so we go to Gusto restaurant, where you order on an iPad and a robot comes with the food. It whizzes around on wheels and doesnt interact with us, but its still a novelty.

KJ says there are pros and cons to automation. Automated things are not so expensive, but communication and conversations are gone, he says.

It can sometimes feel lonely if youre alone.

Most visitors to Tokyo go to TeamLabs, Meiji Shrine, and Sensoji Temple, Japans oldest which dates back to 628, he adds. Younger people love to go to the anime shops and Pokmon and Nintendo game centres.

We finish at an izakaya a bar which serves food after navigating a network of streets behind the railway track to find a tiny alley lined with bars. Over the music, the buzz of conversation, and the rumbling of trains, we order dishes of cabbage in seaweed, bonito (fish) with green peppers, skewers of delicious beef, and beers.

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Kyoto

After a whirlwind couple of days in Tokyo, I board the Shinkansen bullet train for Kyoto, two hours away. After Tokyos crowds, I am thrilled to arrive at Hotel The Mitsui to find a low-rise building on a quiet street. My room overlooks the peaceful central garden with a large pond and theres an underground spa fed by a hot spring.

Its my first time in Kyoto, so I plan to see some main sites and some quieter ones. I meet Inside Japans Insider guide Van Milton, a Kyoto expert who also leads two-week Japan tours. He talks me through the citys layout and history. With more than 1,200 temples and shrines, its regarded as Japans historic centre.

We visit Myoshin-ji, Japans largest Zen Buddhist temple complex with 46 temples. One of them, the Taizo-in Zen Buddhist Temple, dates back to 1404. Here, we stroll beautiful Japanese gardens, admire Zen art and marvel at rock gardens where pebbles are raked into patterns. Its peaceful and uncrowded.

Another temple, Horin-ji Temple, dedicated Daruma-daishi, the founder of Zen Buddhism, has 8,000 daruma dolls inside. Its fun to see the different forms of the distinctive round red dolls. In the late afternoon, we visit the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine, with its rows of red tori gates. There are lots of people at the start of the trail, but the gates stretch right up Mount Inari it takes around 1.5 hours to reach the top, so the crowds fall away further along the trail.

I ask Van about the problems of overtourism the citys population is 1.4m and visitor numbers reached 53.2m in 2019. He says that sometimes at the train station or at Fushimi Inari, its so packed he cant see the ground. Theres a taxi shortage many drivers left during Covid-19, others are ageing out and residents get frustrated when local buses fill up with tourists.

Van says an opportunity was missed to rethink tourism when Japan closed its borders during the pandemic, but just after my visit, Kyoto announced some overtourism countermeasures such as extra bus services and signage for visitors. The Japanese tourism ministry followed suit, announcing plans to draw visitors away from hotspots like Tokyo and Kyoto to lesser-known areas.

Van says the less touristy areas can offer just as much to visitors. People need to realise whats just beyond Kyoto, he says. The towns have the same history Kyoto has. Theres so much within two hours of the city. Farm stays, hot springs, sake breweries. And you barely see another foreigner.

Read our Japan travel bucket list here

Finnair flies from Dublin to Tokyo via Helsinki from 993 in economy, 1,127 in premium economy and 2,275 in business class return. The layover in Helsinki is about three hours. finnair.com

A seven-day Japan Rail Pass for travel anywhere in Japan starts from 336. japan-rail-pass.com

InsideJapan Tours offers private or self-guided trips to Japan. The 14-night Best of Japan self-guided trip costs from 2,340pps (ex flights) including accommodation, transport, some guiding and experiences. InsideJapantTours.com

Irish passport holders do not need a visa for tourist visits of up to 90 days.

Yvonne Gordon stayed at Hotel Groove Shinjuku Tokyo (hotelgroove.jp) and Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto (hotelthemitsui.com/en/kyoto).

If youre not staying in the Tokyo Kabukicho Tower, consider booking in for dinner at Jam 17 restaurant and bar on the 17th floor (hotelgroove.jp/en/jam17) for epic night views across the city.

Yvonne was a guest of Finnair, Hotel The Mitsui, InsideJapan Tours and Tokyo CVB. For more information on things to see and do in Tokyo, see gotokyo.org, and for Kyoto, see kyoto.travel.

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Big in Japan: My post-pandemic trip to Tokyo and Kyoto - Irish Independent

Art

Kettles Yard, Cambridge What happened when the Chinese artist Li Yuan-chia turned an old barn in Cumbria into a free-form space that attracted everyone from Delia Derbyshire to Andy Goldsworthy? Find out in this captivating group show

I can hardly think of a more uplifting show for the dying days of autumn than Making New Worlds at Kettles Yard in Cambridge. Everything about it is bright, beautiful, hopeful and as amiable as the subtitle suggests. For the Chinese artist Li Yuan-chia (1929-94) had many friends, and attracted so many more to his extraordinary museum in Cumbria in the 1970s that over 300 artists eventually came to work in Banks, a remote village beside Hadrians Wall. This show is filled with their spirit.

Li, as he was known, was born in Guangxi and studied in Taipei, where he co-founded the Ton Fan group, who found global fame as Taiwans first abstract artists. He was rapidly spotted by European curators and shown alongside Derek Jarman and Yoko Ono in the newly opened Lisson Gallery in 1967. He was much praised for his airy white panels of magnetic discs that could be moved in endless permutations, casting an infinite variety of shadows; objects of contemplation that are exquisitely made.

There is one here, in an opening gallery of Lis own works introducing his idea of the cosmic point. This is both Blakeian the world in a grain of sand and spiritual, drawing on Zen Buddhism and Taoism. The dot becomes a circle, embracing a world within itself. It becomes a disc, then multiplies, unfolding in delicate paint across watercolour scrolls: grey, vermilion, gold and night black in sequence, condensing the diurnal passage of time.

It proliferates on paper and canvas, in loops and bubbles, rising upwards like laughter; it is a disc hanging over an undulating line like the moon over evening hills. It is a drop of water, a second in time or a dark medallion, black on white, expanding like radiating sound.

Lis kind of abstract painting was at once poetic and conceptual, played out in sparse tones and elegant forms. Some of the earliest works here, from the 1950s, conflate overtones of Joan Mir with ancient Chinese watercolour. But with the move to the village of Banks, into a stone farmhouse with outbuildings on a patch of land loaned him by the painter Winifred Nicholson, the local landscape begins to enter, quite literally, with the bark and branches found on the ground.

Installed upright, in a vertical pageant, these fragments of a wood amount to a glade in themselves. A series of Lis discs, mirror-bright and suspended before them, turn the scene into a living, open-air day.

Lis art so lyrical, so condensed sets the tone for everything that follows. The young Andy Goldsworthy came to work at Banks. Photographs record his early land art, in which Goldsworthy walks the locale, collecting sticks around Hadrians Wall, which he then throws into the air above him like spillikins: dark fireworks against a pale sky. The young David Nash also arrived, turning twigs into drawings and sculptures, piling branches, ragwort and peat into sculptural forms on the floor.

Artists used humble shelves and cupboards for their installations at the Li Yuan-chia Museum and Art Gallery (LYC). Shelagh Wakelys array of fragile containers in transparent resin, unfired clay and papier-mache, conjuring the memory of a long-ago urn, are laid on a slab just above the floor. Lis own calligraphic abstractions, painted on hessian and given to friends, occasionally doubled as draught excluders.

There was no hierarchy at Banks. Rag rug workshops went on alongside high-end conceptualism, childrens print-making beside the most refined abstraction. Some of what you see appears timeless haiku carved into modest wooden tiles and some of it exactly of its time: a pair of clear Perspex cylinders, inside which pink and blue discs seem to multiply through their own dancing reflections.

Unlike the Bauhaus, with its academic programme, the community at the LYC was never doctrinaire. This art is always expansive in its notion of what could be made with, and of, the landscape. Here is a silver-leafed stone, dropping like some shining meteorite from the sky. Or a miniature ship nearly lost between towering waves, all made from shards of local slate.

The music of the spheres, as it seems, ripples through the galleries. This is a homage to Delia Derbyshire, pioneer of electronic music, composer of the Doctor Who theme, who went to live and work with Li in 1976. True to the LYC ethos, her work has been remixed with ambient sound from present-day Banks by the academic David Butler. You might hear a sheep bleating as you look at an image of the landscape.

Most works are by artists who visited the LYC the Benedictine monk Dom Sylvester Houdard, whose concrete poetry evokes the waves of time and tide; the light works of Liliane Lijn. Others continue what was there. An ephemerally beautiful film by the Taiwanese artist Charwei Tsai (b.1980) shows a dark circle, described with a Chinese watercolour brush, appear and then gradually dissolve: a storm sweeping in, then passing away.

The curators of this show have worked with exceptional dedication to present another story of art in this country, patiently rediscovering many works by Li that were scattered after the closure of the LYC in 1983. They even found an early stained-glass panel by David Nash among the relics of Lis great enterprise. It is suspended in a tall window at Kettles Yard, its beautiful blue disc rhyming with the clock of the Cambridge church outside.

And time, in the end, becomes the essence of this captivating show. Not just Lis own idea of time as constantly circling, and never linear; but of a time when the art world was open-hearted, nobody was restricted by museum and market structures, by whos in and whos out of this colossal money-spawning industry. When a spirit of generosity and curiosity prevailed, and everyone was invited to make something out of almost nothing, to make a new world of the imagination, as envisaged by this remarkable man.

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Making New Worlds: Li Yuan-chia and Friends review the open invitation of one remarkable man - The Guardian