Heading out from Tokyo to Nagoya on a shinkansen to visit James Heisig ¡ª a leading author of works on Japanese philosophy ¡ª I vaguely imagine what the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, where Heisig is a fellow, will look like.
I¡¯ve a mental image of a gleaming white building with deep carpets, probably funded by some ultrawealthy religious foundation, where I will enjoy a coffee in a cafe with a garden view and floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
Yet when I arrive at Nanzan University, I discover that no one has heard of the institute and finally find it to be a ramshackle, forgotten building located (Heisig later tells me) at the ¡°Devil¡¯s Gate¡± (Kimon) corner of the campus.
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