There’s never been a time in my life when Japan wasn’t somehow present.  From my mother’s prayer drum and shiromuku doll, that I never had the chance to ask her where she got them from, to my 3rd grade penpal from Shikoku.  It all started there and has now grown into a deep love and passion for the culture of the Land of the Rising Sun.

I’ve had a long and lovely meandering path through my studies in Japanese culture.  History, ukiyo-e, fashion, kawaii culture, gardens…whatever has struck my fancy I have followed that road to wherever it leads and then followed the next.  But it never occurred to me to post about my adventures because the layers of intricacy in the studying of anything from Japan is like trying to pluck all the petals of a Chrysanthemum flower, and I never felt I had fully grasped it to the proper depths of its meaning.

A far wiser man than me once said “The more I learn, the less I realize I know.”  True words to live by.  But I now am far more confident in what I know vs what I don’t know.

Basically it took a friend pretty much shouting  “JUST DO IT!”

So here I am following Richard Branson’s advice to “Screw it, let’s do it.” So I will continue to learn and we will see together where the path leads from here!