Thoughtfulness

Aesthetics rank of utmost importance in all things Japanese. I mean, look at this—this is just a simple breakfast, whipped up and slapped on the table.
Aesthetics rank of utmost importance in all things Japanese. I mean, look at this—this is just a simple breakfast, whipped up and slapped on the table.
The Japanese people take great pride in presentation, and everything, no matter how “mundane” its daily function might be, has an air of thoughtfulness and intention behind every detail of its existence.
Even when someone misplaces a hat or a glove, another person will pick it up and set it just so at a spot near where it had been lost so that, should the owner return for it, he or she would find that someone had taken time and care in placing it there. To me at least, I found this aspect of Japan to be absolutely wonderful.
Such thoughtfulness is the grandest of things.

On this particular day, The Princess was scheduled for a “girls day” with her sister and mother. Yet while the ladies were out shopping, Koji-san and I went to visit the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and Museum, a beautiful albeit somber place honoring the victims of the atomic bombing of Japan. Upon returning from my visit, I immediately wrote an impression of my experience based on a the photos I took, and the notes I jotted down.

I felt that I should provide some form of introduction, even if only a small one, prior to divulging those writings here—and yet it did not seem right to add anything to the original prose. We will therefore provide the original impression alone and unaltered as our next entry.

In the meantime, it is our recommendation that you try to find some tiny detail in your everyday life—the smaller the better—and take a moment to make it look just a tad prettier and more intentional than it did before.

And if you can manage to do that to all things on an everyday basis, you will be half-way to Japan your own self.

So, until tomorrow… Mata ashita ne!

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Ten Thousand Shrines