In our society of overwork, unfulfillable desires and maddening rush, we feel, somehow, that we have lost something important. For decades Westerners have been looking to Buddhism and other Asian disciplines, as well as to traditional peoples all over the world, to try to find a more satisfying way to live. Yet it's difficult for us to live in these people's ways, having grown up in an urbanized, industrialized culture. We are surrounded by excess, and we have so little time.

In villages throughout the steep green mountains of Japan--arguably a more industrialized, overworked society than our own--are some fascinating people who have chosen a slower, simpler way to live. Inhabiting beautiful old farmhouses among the terraced rice fields, their lives are rich in the luxury of time: time for contemplation, time to lose oneself in meandering conversations, and time to know the pleasures of the shimmering natural world. They have actualized the ideal of a simple, fulfilling life.

A Different Kind Of Luxury is a book of portraits of these artists, craftspeople, philosophers and farmers living lives of reduced consumption and increased satisfaction. The vibrant writing conveys a sense of their characters, as well as the strongly felt (but humbly stated) philosophies that guide them. Through a mixture of evocative description, the telling of their stories, photographic portraits and beautiful reproductions of their art, this book lets readers into the lush texture of their lives.