Mr. Kobayashi-Solomon lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife of over 30 years and Genji, his four-legged shadow and hiking companion. His two grown children are living inspiring, creative, adventurous lives and continually fill him with joy.
Mr. Kobayashi-Solomon has been fascinated with Japan and Japanese culture his entire life, holds black belts in several martial arts, and was apprenticed to a Zen painting master while living in Japan for five years.
He maintains a daily schedule of rigorous physical exercise, mindfulness meditation, and reading, with a particular interest in farming, history, classics, philosophy, and religion. He volunteers as an election judge and is active in local charitable organizations.
He is presently writing a book about Eastern and Western philosophical traditions and their respective conceptions of wisdom, self-sufficiency, and one’s role in society. He greatly admires and has been heavily influenced by his undergraduate philosophy professor, the late Dr. Paul Woodruff. Paul was a philosopher, an artist and poet, and a caring teacher and father, who led men in battle and knew the terrible, lasting psychological burden of war. In a word, Paul was a King. Long live the king.