Ekai Korematsu Osho was born and raised in Japan, but began his formal Zen practice while a university student in California, where he was affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center.  In 1979, he returned to Japan for formal monastic training at Eiheiji, the principal Soto Zen monastery.  Returning to America in 1983, he founded Kojin-an which later became the Oakland Zen Center.  At the request of his teacher Narasaki Roshi, he returned to Japan in 1987 to become the director of an International Zen monastery, Shogoji, in Kyushu.  From 1994 to 1996, he was again at Eiheiji, and was also the Practice Director at Zuigakuin Temple in Yamanashi Prefecture.  At present he lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is the founder and spiritual director of Jikishoan Zen Buddhist Community.