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I am very excited about the prospect of visiting Japan for the fourth time later this year; but this will be my first to Fukuoka where IAP2026 will be held. Japan is perceived by many as an intriguing country probably because of its distant geographic location and limited knowledge by people of its rich culture and heritage. Japan’s religious and cultural heritage is distinguished by a remarkable blending of ancient indigenous traditions, imported philosophies, aesthetic refinement, and strong social continuity. It reflects a unique fusion of Shinto reverence for nature, Buddhist spirituality, samurai ethics, and refined artistic traditions. Across centuries, Japan developed a culture centered on harmony, discipline, beauty, respect for impermanence, and preservation of tradition while successfully embracing modernity.
All these can be experienced in Fukuoka which sits on the northern shore of Japan’s Kyushu Island facing the Korean Peninsula and China across the sea. Its defensive stone walls built along the coast rebuffed many invasions most notably that by the Mongol in the 13th century. Repelling that invasion became part of Japanese national identity through the story of the “divine winds” — kamikaze — typhoons that destroyed much of the Mongol fleet.
The geography and history of Fukuoka made it an outward-looking city and turned it into a trading center, a meeting point between Japan and continental civilizations, and a conduit for Buddhism, Chinese writing systems, arts, ceramics, and political ideas. These stood along Shinto, Japan’s native spiritual tradition which remains deeply embedded in Japanese identity and daily life with its emphasis on reverence for nature, purity and ritual cleanliness, ancestral respect, and the presence of sacred spirits (kami) in mountains, rivers, trees, and natural phenomena. It is thus no wonder that the Japanese culture is sensitive toward seasons, landscapes, gardens, and environmental harmony.
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