I look back with fondness at our too-brief visit to Japan, through Hokkaido,  Sapporo, Yokohama, and ultimately, Tokyo. It’s on the MUST RETURN list for more discoveries. We had booked a car to pick us up from the port, and a quiet gentleman picked us up in a spotless black car with white gloves and exemplary attention to detail. Little did I know I’ve been living like a feral animal by comparison. We were delivered to our high rise hotel in the Tsukiji District where the deferential staff was dressed in similarly formal attire.

May we talk about Japanese Toto toilets? Here is another example of our living like animals. I thought the U.S. was technologically advanced, but we deserve to have electronic toilets that wash your nethers, play music and add soft lighting while gently drying off your business.

A trip to the Hokusai Museum was on the list. You will have seen The Wave, no doubt, in one of the many incarnations it was produced in.  Hokusai and Japanese inspirations appear in Van Gogh’s work, holding sway over my favorite impressionists. The year before we had been to Claude Monet’s house in Giverny, France, and he had prominently placed Hokusai block print art on the wall amid the other revered artists of his age. Just seeing these things for myself felt like an important thing I needed to do.

Then there is the incredible playfulness of Japanese kitsch (Hello Kitty style) and bouncy tv commercials that play endlessly on screens inside a taxi. The songs are designed to embed themselves in your brain. They’re effective. Was it an ordinary thing to see men in suits on wave runners in formation in the river?

I collected images and feelings throughout, with a stop in the excellent Pigment store in Tokyo to spend a great deal of money on art supplies (see below) that are themselves so beautiful, I hesitate to use them.