A new tradition begins. Modern Japanese lacquerware, your beautiful space.

Eat, Talk, and Fly

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:47:29 -0800

A witches' feast is held once a month at a certain location in Kobe.

The attendees' nationalities, occupations, and personalities vary widely. Age is unknown and background is irrelevant. If pressed to describe them,

"women who appreciate the finer things."

Whether it's taste, sound, color, language, calligraphy, paintings, antiques, history, figures, literature, or performing arts.

Every conceivable topic arises.

The list is endless: ancient to modern, East to West, politics, economics, space science, brain science, Noh theater, Kabuki, painting, music, and more.

And, since it's a feast, there is food.

Beautiful dishes are made with seasonal ingredients, and the same dish hasn't been served in years.

However, if something is so delicious that someone pleads, "Please, that again!", she gladly oblige.

The quality of the food and seasonal table settings is so high that we'll never want to eat out again.

When I told her they were obsessed with basketball, she sent me a pile of NBA articles from newspapers.

Those little princes have grown up and are becoming proper gentlemen.

She sends birthday cards that remind me of birthdays I might have forgotten.

There are sparkling Christmas cards that keep coming even after the children have left home and we no longer decorate for Christmas.

Each card fills me with gratitude and warm joy, knowing she hasn’t forgotten me.

Every time these colorful cards arrive, I feel the unbreakable bond we formed under the Santa Monica sky.

Though I stopped sending New Year's cards long ago, I write her long letters twice a year.

It’s an irreplaceable connection that began over 30 years ago.

The beauty of women as portrayed by women

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 03:56:28 -0700

I visited the Nakanoshima Art Museum in Osaka that day. I wanted to see women with dignity and strength in their serene beauty.

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of Uemura Shoen's birth, the exhibition "What I sought was an ideal image.

Uemura Shoen, born in 1875, said, "No other art form but Noh expresses not only the beautiful but also the ugly and the vulgar openly and without showing them. And painting should be the same.

Uemura Shoen is a Japanese painter who has both the depth of nostalgia and strength to express beautifully even emotions that can bring about madness.

The women in her paintings are beautifully dressed, but with melancholy, or with their eyes flashing, and with the strength to face forward, all-encompassing.

I stared at the painting. I wished I could be like that.

And the many kimonos by Shoen, who was born and raised in Kyoto, were the top mode of the time.

Not to mention the coordination of the kimono and obi, the half collar, lintel, and even the color of the thongs, which my friend and I were whispering to each other. Some of the combinations were quite modern for the time, and we were secretly excited, saying that they looked like western stripes instead of Japanese stripes.

There were many works exhibited in the exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of her birth, but there was only one work that did not match the title.

The title and the painting do not match.

It was Sei Shonagon.

The boxes are stacked in such a way that when they are stacked, the patterns are connected.

Whether it is a geometric checkerboard pattern, a pine, bamboo, plum or landscape painting, the sides of the boxes are connected when they are stacked. It can be both an object and a painting.

The lid makes it easy to keep clean and sanitary, and the empty boxes can be stacked again as part of the background.

Oh, I didn't know there was such a use for these...

I'm sorry I only thought of it as a stand-alone container.

But still... Ojyu-bako are beautiful when stacked!

Would you like some tea ?

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 03:07:18 -0700

It is very important to keep a calm and relaxed mind, like the surface of a lake without wind.

Many people are heartbroken by the various difficulties that are taking place in different parts of the world.

Natural disasters and human-made conflicts that are beyond human control.

Many of these things may cause you to feel disturbed, anxious and fearful.

There may be people who have no hope for the future tomorrow, next year and ten years from now.

But • • •

If you have done what you can, there is nothing to fear.

You cannot stop a typhoon by mourning.

Worrying so much that you lose your appetite and let your skin crust over will not change your economic situation.

I've done all I can.

After that it will be as it will be.

Stop worrying and spend some tender time loving and cherishing yourself.

If you value and love yourself enough, at least the air around you will change to a pleasant one.

Now, would you like a cup of tea?

Fly me to the moon

Thu, 02 May 2024 17:46:29 -0700

I first heard Fly me to the moon in Neon Genesis Evangelion.

In that anime, no one is happy.

Combined with the ending image of the song sinking into the sea, it made the song dark and sad.

The viewpoint is flying into distant space, saying 'Take me to the moon, let me play amongst the stars...'

It's as if someone is escaping from what is happening on earth.

Furthermore, I telling how much I love you in various expressions,

Please be true" makes me feel nervous.

Some translate it as 'please be true', being sincere and not lying.

I felt a sense of anxiety showing through.

I like you, so I don't mind if you don't, but I'm not afraid of you...', while being strong.

Like she was feeling unsure and anxious, but her feelings came out through her

mouth, I felt a quiet stagnation begin to build up inside me.

I have a favourite diva.

Many of the fans who listen to her songs feel as if the sound is getting into every single pore of their body.

I was surprised the other day when I heard Fly me to the moon at her concert.

The rhythm, the tempo and the expression on her face during her singing were bright without hesitation.

It was the complete opposite of that of Evangelion, so much so that I thought it was a different song.

It was light and joyful.

There was a cute woman there, as if winking with a smile and saying, "If you lie to me, I won't forgive you.

Savoring Nature's Transitions and Eternal Artistry

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 03:03:02 -0700

As the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms fades and their delicate petals flutter away, our gaze turns to nature's next transition. From April through May, the Japanese archipelago dons a new vibrant cloak of colors.

Emerging from the forests where the sakura have retreated, vivid reds and pinks begin to dot the landscapes. The azaleas, known as tsutsuji, are blooming. Entire hillsides and mountain slopes become awash in what appears to be flaming clouds, signaling the earth's reawakening after winter's slumber.

In the mountain villages, azaleas are just one part of the seasonal transition. Irises with deep purple petals emerge around ponds while subtle gradients in the vibrant new greenery create patterns of exquisite intricacy. The shift from season to season is intricately woven into the very landscapes.

This overlapping procession of blooming reminds one of the tiers of a traditional lacquered jubako food box. Each decorative layer features its own colors, patterns, and materials. Yet when stacked in harmonious arrangement, they coalesce into a unified work of art.

As the cherry blossoms whirl away, the azaleas ignite into brilliance, and verdant new growth emerges, it becomes a period to savor the lush impermanence at a leisurely pace. Each fleeting moment feels precious and worthy of gratitude as the transition continues towards the next season.

Like the natural world, human life too progresses through its own transitions – joys and partings layering one after another. But if we can find beauty in those transitions themselves, just as we do in the cycles of nature, perhaps we can enrich our lives.

Just as the traditional jubako reveals new perspectives with each opened layer, so too does the appreciation of the ephemeral transition from one season's splendor to the next's offer an opportunity to embrace the perpetual metamorphosis of existence itself. Savoring each remaining moment, while allowing it to give way...Read More

The Ephemeral Dance of Cherry Blossoms

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:03:56 -0700

In Japan, the arrival of spring is heralded by the delicate unfurling of cherry blossom petals, painting the landscapes in hues of ethereal pink. These fleeting blooms, known as sakura, hold a deeply symbolic significance, embodying the ephemeral nature of life itself. As the cherry blossom season coincides with major transitions in the academic year, the flowers have become poignant emblems of farewells and new beginnings.

Graduation and entrance ceremonies, milestones that mark the end of one chapter and the start of another, take place amidst the delicate rain of sakura petals. For students bidding farewell to their alma maters, the cherry blossoms serve as a bittersweet reminder of the memories they've forged and the friendships they must now leave behind. Yet, in the same breath, the blooms symbolize the promise of new adventures that await, much like the buds that will blossom anew the following year.

For those embarking on their academic journeys, the cherry blossoms represent the boundless potential that lies ahead. Just as the trees burst into...Read More