Memories of Japan

Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer.
Simone Weil

It's my second time in the country, and the world I find myself in is entirely deliberate. 

Commuters travel quietly, line up in an orderly manner, and exit graciously. Shop owners meticulously sweep the path to their entrances and showcase a carefully curated selection of products arranged neatly and with pride.

Stewards bow to you when entering and exiting a train car on the Shinkansen. Each worker within the station wears a uniform that represents their line of work, but it's clear from how they wear them that there's always cause for dignity. Everyone keeps up their appearance as a mark of courtesy. It's not simply carrying out a chore; it's more fulfilling of a duty to your community. 

While sitting alone in a small yakitori restaurant (with only four seats on either side of the bar), the chef told me, "To think of others is to think of oneself," as he meticulously set out new tableware in anticipation of the next guests who may or may not arrive. 

There's a communal heritage that connects each routine to the next, creating undeniable balance and collective harmony. Even weeks after returning home, these details stay with me. 

During last weekend's Tanabata (Star Festival) celebration, I was gifted the term onkochishin (温故知新) by SORA, a Japanese calligraphy artist based in Portland, Oregon. Though she usually writes with a more stylized and expressive hand, the calligraphy she handed me was intricately simple. She said she interpreted my presence as straightforward and clear, and so that's how it was written. 

Onkochishin signifies the duality of new and old, and more specifically, it refers to gaining knowledge from the past. To inherit tradition and keep it alive is to constantly innovate and adapt it to the present era. By cherishing tradition, we can create for someone in the faraway future while respecting those in the distant past. 

Now more than ever, I am inspired to create something that can only be made in this very moment.