Abstract

■Description
A high heel clad Buddhist priest teaches self-love.
Don’t let societal standards dictate your life.
Break down oppressive norms and conventions.

Gay, an LGBTQ supporter, a Buddhist priest, and a makeup artist, Nishimura found his way to total self-love.

Nishimura once felt inferior to those around him as a man attracted to other men. A bleak, lonesome existence in high school was followed by a lack of acceptance as a foreign student in the US.

This is his journey to self-love and acceptance.
“Nothing changes until you believe you have value.”

Lift yourself up and take pride in your individuality.

■From the table of contents
Chapter 1 Choose your own life
Chapter 2 Finding allies gets easier
Chapter 3 Reinventing “common sense”
Chapter 4 Be someone you can love

Author’s Information

Kodo Nishimura

Kodo Nishimura is a Japanese Buddhist priest born in Tokyo in 1989. He graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York. After graduating, he remained in the US to work as a makeup artist. He has done makeup for contestants in Miss Universe and Miss America pageants, receiving high praise from international media and Hollywood actresses. After returning to Japan, Nishimura trained to be a priest and was ordained into the Pure Land sect in 2015. He also holds makeup and LGBTQ awareness seminars. As a priest, makeup artist, and member of the LGBTQ community, he advocates equality regardless of gender and race. His lectures held at the United Nations Population Fund in New York, Yale University, and Zōjō-ji Temple have attracted wide coverage on the likes of NHK and the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). This is his first authored work.