Kunihiko Otomo

"I am a seeker. Whether it's truth or beauty, I am always seeking."

Kunihiko (Kibo) Otomo passed away suddenly on January 25, 2021. He was born in on February 2, 1957 in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture to the late Rikio and Yushiko Otomo. He was the youngest of four, "the baby of the house" according to his sister, Yuko, "He walked a very fascinating unique path in his life."

He studied English Literature in Seinan Gakuin University in Japan. Then he studied Hagi Pottery under the apprenticeship of the national treasure master potter Miwa Kyusetsu. That led him to come to US to study pottery & ceramic art further in Alfred University. While at Alfred, he got deeply involved in philosophy. That is also where he met his wife, Elizabeth Everett. They married in 1988.

Eventually, he became the first full scholarship ESL foreign student to be admitted to the department of philosophy in NYU Graduate School & received an MA of Political Philosophy degree. After the graduation, in order to continue his philosophical investigation in the open field, he opted to jump into the "real" world instead of staying in academia. He was a corporate managing director of Savilles North America. He was also Kyokushin karate black belt sensei/instructor & a Feldenkrais practitioner. He put his belief that mind and body are one into daily practice.

He was the loving husband of Elizabeth, and father to their two children Vivian and Ken, and very proud of the young adults they have become. He showed them how to live the life of an active and questioning mind. He loved his family and friends for who they were. And if he pushed them, it was to grow into their own unique gifts, rather than to please him.

Elizabeth recalls how when she was struggling with severe joint pains at one point, he used his Feldenkrais skills to resolve her symptoms.

Ki was a student of the American Transcendentalist movement, and other philosophers. He loved Emerson, Thoreau, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Cézanne, Duchamp, Ellington, Charlie Parker, Sun Ra, Ives, Cage & many more. His passion & involvement to philosophy, art & music, especially Jazz, were deep & genuine. His loved his adopted country, and did not hesitate to say so.

He was relentlessly curious, hungry to learn and challenge both himself and others. He was an accomplished "plein air" painter of the contemporary Hudson River School, and created a remarkable body of work. He eventually moved his family into a magnificently restored house overlooking the Hudson, close to the park where he would paint and train in karate. He also hosted "Ideology Club: Political Philosophy Matters" on line to further continue philosophical discussions among the members from both academia and non-academia.

Kunihiko is survived by his wife Elizabeth, their children Vivian and Ken, and his siblings Yuko and Marbo.