My treasure box from Japan

My history with Japan

My journey to Japan has several distinctive stages, each with its “stations”. The starting point was 90s era J-dramas such as Tokyo Love Story with my fascination of Suzuki Honami and the city of Tokyo itself. From there, I gradually moved into early to mid-20th century classic films, chanoyu and traditional architecture (sukiya, shrines and temples), with Ozu Yasujiro and Katsura Imperial Villa as my aesthetics anchors. Next came a chance encounter with Bando Tamasaburo through his collaboration with Yo-yo Ma in Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suite #5. This opened a door into traditional stage performances, with their underlying supporting blocks in a rich tapestry of history, literature, textile, music and philosophy. Today, I spend most of my off-work time absorbing everything about Japan: both savoring its ancient treasures and understanding the new social and economic challenges they try hard to solve.

Through my study of Japan, the asethetics spirit and ethics have become my benchmark, something that I often use to recalibrate myself. It is also a long term goal that I aspire to.

My gems

My favorite essayist Matsuura Yataro said that everything he encountered in life are jewels to be put into a treasure box. When he faces new challenges, he will open the box and pull out some of the jewels, to give him strength to keep going.

Heeding his advice, I have been collecting jewels from my 20+ years of travel and immersion in Japanese culture. In this series of posts, I am going to share with you some of my most precious ones.

My journey is still ongoing and I look forward to exploring and learning more Japanese cultural aspects that are unknown to me. Welcome to my blog and I hope you will be delighted in the omiyage I share with you along this colorful journey too!