In conversation with writer Masanori Oe, one hears the word "discovery" quite often. It's no wonder. Since the days of his translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead into Japanese and his film documentaries on the psychedelic movement in New York City in the late 1960s, he has pioneered new directions in art, spirituality, agriculture and philosophy for thousands of people seeking an off-ramp from so-called "progress" in industrialized Japan.

Upon my arrival for the interview, I am immediately taken to his rice field. We sit among the rich greenery at over 1,000 meters of elevation, the crags of the Japan Alps rising behind us. The clear-voiced gentleman with the meditative features then tells me about his method of growing rice and vegetables without digging the soil or even pulling out weeds.

"This method allows the farmer to learn directly the way that plants relate with each other," Oe explains. "There's a lot of wisdom there. We've all seen the mistakes brought about from trying to control nature. What we're trying to do here is to see what happens inside of us when we let ourselves be controlled by nature. It might not be easier, or produce the absolutely maximum harvests, but what humans need now is to relearn what we have forgotten about the spirit of life."