エハン・デラヴィ

Writer · Filmmaker · Translator · Consciousness Researcher

Echan
Deravy

エハン・デラヴィ

Fifty years at the crossroads of East and West — one of the most deeply embedded Western voices in modern Japan.

Author Filmmaker Translator Corporate Adviser Public Speaker Media Personality Consciousness & Cultural Architect Global Workshop Leader

Birth name · Western identity

John Craig

Substack writer · Translator · Japanthropologist

Pen name · Japanese identity

Echan Deravy

エハン・デラヴィ

Two names. Two worlds. The same person, at seventy-four, choosing to let them meet — here, on this page — for the first time.

Before Japan · The Road

John Craig was an original hippie — a genuine one. He travelled to more than 70 countries before arriving in Japan, drawn by Zen and the study of oriental medicine. He apprenticed under a Japanese master acupuncturist in Osaka, one of the rare few who could perform pulse diagnosis, an art nearly lost even in Japan. He graduated in the first-ever group of Westerners to pass Japan's national oriental medicine examination, then opened successive clinics in Kyoto and Kobe. He also attained fifth dan in Japanese archery (弓道 — Kyūdō). In the West, he is known as the author of the Substack series Japanthropologist and for one published translation.

A life lived between worlds

For most of his adult life, Echan Deravy has been one of the most active Western intellectuals working in Japan — yet almost entirely unknown in the English-speaking world. Under his Japanese name, he built a career that spanned television, publishing, corporate consultation, public speaking, documentary filmmaking, and decades of deep engagement with Japan's spiritual and cultural life.

"I didn't just study Japan — I lived it, worked it, loved it, and tried to understand what it was saying to the world."

Award · 2005

Recipient of the Higashi-Kuninomiya Culture Award (東久邇宮文化褒賞), presented by the Higashikuninomiya International Cultural Award Commemorative Foundation for outstanding contributions to society, international relations, and culture.

A film is about to change that. As the name Echan Deravy begins reaching new audiences, this website exists to offer context — a map of a life richly lived on both sides of the world's most interesting cultural divide.

What a lifetime
in Japan looks like

01

Author & Translator

著作家・翻訳者

With an extensive body of work spanning over 40 titles, Echan Deravy's writing, translations, and editorial projects offer a deeply eclectic exploration of the intersection between science, ancient wisdom, and the nature of consciousness.

His books navigate a vast landscape — from profound cosmological inquiries and the mechanics of spiritual awakening to practical, life-enhancing methodologies like earthing and holistic health. His books on earthing have become cornerstones of the earthing movement in Japan.

Echan has engaged in dialogues with thinkers from both East and West, including environmentalist Satish Kumar and cosmologist Jude Currivan.

From the East, his conversations have included a Shinto priest, a well-known psychic researcher, a Japanese actor and past-life regression specialist, and a respected Japanese journalist — bringing together perspectives that rarely share the same page.

02

Documentary Filmmaker

映像作家

Echan Deravy's documentary filmmaking acts as a powerful visual extension of his written work, capturing the intersection of ancient wisdom, human potential, and our fundamental relationship with the planet.

Earth Pilgrims — Filmed across several countries, this project serves as a profound soul guide regarding humanity's connection to the Earth. It features an extraordinary assembly of voices, including Satish Kumar, Graham Hancock, Nassim Haramein, and Wade Davis, with narration by the acclaimed poet and translator Coleman Barks. The film is noted for its beautiful cinematography and its focus on indigenous wisdom and consciousness transformation.

Why on Earth — This documentary chronicles Echan's unique and challenging five-week journey trekking across the Icelandic landscape entirely barefoot. The project gained national attention in Iceland, where it was broadcast by the national television network RÚV under the title Jarðtengdur ("Grounded"), and it stands as a central pillar of his research into the practical applications and healing potential of earthing.

03

Consciousness Researcher & Cultural Architect

意識研究者・文化建築家

With a career spanning over four decades, Echan Deravy stands as a bridge between the frontiers of human potential and the foundational wisdom of our past.

An explorer of the Map of Consciousness, he has dedicated his life to the synthesis of rigorous scientific inquiry — from his pioneering work in Remote Viewing and the mechanics of Earthing — with the profound spiritual teachings of A Course in Miracles, The Urantia Book, and the lineage of Dr. David R. Hawkins.

More than a researcher, Echan is a catalyst for cultural evolution. By introducing Remote Viewing to Japan in 1997 and Earthing to the nation in 2013, he has translated paradigm-shifting concepts into accessible movements that have transformed the health and self-awareness of a global audience.

He himself, like many of his interviewees, brings wide-ranging personal experience to this work — grounded in a life of Zen meditation and direct inquiry into altered states of consciousness.

He has interviewed leading global figures including ACIM experts Jon Mundy, Gary Renard, Emily Perry, and Yasuko Kasaki; retrocausation visionary Eric Wargo; Dr. Donald Robertson on psychology and Stoicism; philosopher Dr. Bernardo Kastrup; neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield; and Chris Bache, Kevin Turner, and Dr. John Lilly on altered states and shamanism.

04

Corporate Adviser

企業顧問

Echan served as personal adviser to the chairman of a major Japanese corporation — a role that went far beyond conventional consultancy.

He created Echan Juku, a weekly lecture series open not only to company staff but to the general public, bringing paradigm-shifting ideas in consciousness, health, and culture to a broad audience over three years.

Inspired by the Esalen Institute in California, he founded the Kakuichi Institute — a Japanese equivalent dedicated to inviting Western scholars and researchers to Japan for dialogues and lectures, in collaboration with Schumacher College in the UK.

He also established Earthing Japan Inc. as a separate corporation — the original earthing company in Japan, importing grounding goods from the US before manufacturing its own. It remains a model for the industry and has inspired many subsequent companies in the earthing and grounding space. Educational videos were produced at the Earthing News Studio, and Echan delivered numerous lectures as adviser to the company.

05

Media Personality & Broadcaster

メディア・タレント・出演者

Echan appeared multiple times on one of Japan's most controversial and widely watched television programmes — TV Tackle (テレビタックル), Beat Takeshi's celebrated show, whose New Year special once drew a fifteen percent national rating. To appear on that platform, in Japanese, as a Western guest, was exceptional by any measure.

He was also invited as a guest commentator across multiple other channels, speaking in Japanese on subjects ranging from Remote Viewing, the Electric Universe theory, and ancient civilisations, to the NSA phone surveillance programme revealed by Edward Snowden.

These appearances gave Echan a platform to bring frontier science and consciousness research directly to a mass Japanese audience — on primetime television, in their own language, on subjects they would rarely hear discussed anywhere else.

06

Translator, Interpreter & Cultural Bridge

翻訳者・通訳者・文化的橋渡し役

Echan is both a translator and an interpreter — two distinct skills he has exercised at the highest level across a lifetime of bridging East and West.

As a translator, he has co-translated books with his wife Sonia Aichi, working across English and Japanese with precision and cultural depth. His title in Japanese reflects both roles: 翻訳者・通訳者 — translator and interpreter.

As an interpreter, he has brought some of the most radical and visionary Western thinkers directly to Japanese audiences — through his long-running online series Visionary Lectures, in live settings, and in the field. He has interpreted for:

Neal Donald Walsch (Conversations with God) · Gary Renard (A Course in Miracles) · Graham Hancock (ancient civilisations) · Stephan Schwartz (Remote Viewing pioneer) · Clint Ober (founder of Earthing) · Dr. Laura Koniver (earthing physician) · Colin Andrews (crop circle research) · Dr. John Lilly (consciousness research, Kyoto) · and shamans in jungles and mountains across the world.

Interpretation has been central to his mission: communicating unusual and often radical ideas from West to East, in real time, with full cultural and intellectual fidelity.

07

Global Workshop Leader

世界各地でのワークショップ主宰

Beginning in 1995, Echan led over 60 international workshops for Japanese participants at sacred sites, indigenous communities, and places of deep cultural and spiritual significance across the globe. These were not tours — they were transformational encounters with the living world.

Highlights include approximately ten journeys to the Yucatán, Mexico to study Mayan culture and cosmology with indigenous teachers; ten treks along the Inca Trail in Peru; and deep jungle work in the Madre de Dios region with an indigenous shaman using Ayahuasca. Other destinations include Scotland, Cornwall, Ireland, Egypt, Hawaii, Australia, Greece, Crete, Turkey, Malta, Canada, Costa Rica, the Okinawan island of Miyakojima, and multiple visits to the pioneering intentional community of Damanhur in Italy.

What made these workshops truly unique was their philosophy: Echan and Sonia met participants in each country and said goodbye at the airport when the work was done. No hand-holding. No tour guiding. People were expected to arrive as independent travellers and leave as sovereign individuals — responsible for their own journey, in every sense.

Forty books.
Three films.
Sixty international workshops.

40+
Books written
or translated
3
Documentary
films
60+
International
workshops led

Published with Japan's leading spiritual and consciousness publishers, Echan's written work spans original books, translations of David R. Hawkins' works, and editorial projects that synthesise science, ancient wisdom, and consciousness research. His books on earthing have become cornerstones of the earthing movement in Japan.

Echan has engaged in dialogues with thinkers from both East and West, including environmentalist Satish Kumar and cosmologist Jude Currivan. From the East, his conversations have included a Shinto priest, a well-known psychic researcher, a Japanese actor and past-life regression specialist, and a respected Japanese journalist — bringing together perspectives that rarely share the same page.

His documentary films have explored indigenous wisdom traditions and consciousness at their root, taking him to ceremonies and gatherings that few Western observers have ever witnessed.

Translation · Consciousness

Power vs. Force & Letting Go

パワーか、フォースか & レッティング・ゴー

Japanese translations of David R. Hawkins · Published by Natural Spirit

Documentary Films

Earth Pilgrims

アース・ピルグリムス

Featuring Satish Kumar, Graham Hancock, Nassim Haramein, Wade Davis · Narrated by Coleman Barks

Documentary Film

Why on Earth

ホワイ・オン・アース

Five weeks barefoot across Iceland · Broadcast by RÚV as Jarðtengdur ("Grounded")

Author · Spiritual

魂の千一夜

魂の千一夜

A Thousand and One Nights of the Soul · Written by Echan Deravy

Co-authored · In Development

The Urantia Adventure

ウランティアの冒険

Japanese-language introduction to The Urantia Book · co-authored with Sonia Aichi · coming soon

Documentary Film · Coming Soon

Japan Convergence 2026

ジャパン・コンバージェンス 2026

Documentary of the 2026 Japan Convergence events and Symposium · in production

If you need someone who truly knows Japan — not just visits it.

After fifty years living, working, writing, and broadcasting in Japan, Echan Deravy offers something that cannot be acquired quickly: genuine cultural fluency. He reads the room in ways that no amount of preparation can teach. He communicates with Japanese at every level of society — from village elders to corporate executives, from television producers to Buddhist monks.

He is now available for select engagements in the following areas:

  • Cross-cultural consulting for organisations entering or operating in the Japanese market
  • Book translation consultancy and co-translation (English ↔ Japanese)
  • Public speaking — in English or Japanese — on Japan, consciousness, and the meeting of East and West
  • Documentary and film consultancy with deep Japan access
  • International workshop design for groups wishing to explore the world through a Japanese cultural and spiritual lens
  • Academic or corporate seminars on Japanese culture, communication, and consciousness

Credentials at a glance

AWARD · 2005Higashi-Kuninomiya Culture Award (東久邇宮文化褒賞) — presented by the Higashikuninomiya International Cultural Award Commemorative Foundation for outstanding contributions to society, international relations, and culture
Resident in Japan for the majority of a 50+ year career
Native-level Japanese — spoken, written, and broadcast
Introduced Remote Viewing to Japan, 1997
Introduced Earthing (grounding) to Japan, 2013
40+ books authored, co-authored, or translated
3 documentary films as director — Earth Pilgrims, Why on Earth, and Japan Convergence 2026 (in production)
Regular Japanese television presence
60+ international workshops led for Japanese participants worldwide
Licensed practitioner of oriental medicine — graduated in the first group of Westerners to pass Japan's national examination
Apprenticed under a master acupuncturist in Osaka — one of the few practitioners of pulse diagnosis
Clinics in Kyoto and Kobe
Fifth dan in Japanese archery (弓道 Kyūdō)
Consecutive interpreter at international indigenous ceremonies involving 15+ nations
Corporate adviser across private and public sectors
Decades of connection to Japan's spiritual and cultural leadership
エハン

Let's find out if there's something we can build together.

contact@echanderavy.com

Also find Echan at