A bridge to the New Year

To celebrate the New Year I’ve chosen this photo taken in Japan, in the Shizuoka region. I love rope bridges, those pathways over a void, which are sometimes crossed with a touch of apprehension that quickly disappears. I wish you a happy and peaceful year. I hope your path is joyous. I hope you live in harmony, harmony with yourself, harmony with others. I hope we can live rewarding lives among those who we may have been able to help find fulfilment.

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Japanese shadows

For anyone interested in Japan, I recommend reading “In Praise of Shadows” by Junichiro Tanizaki. The author invites us not to view Japan through western eyes, but to take a wider perspective on what we call technical progress. He teaches us, beautifully, to look at the interior of a house. He talks about rays of sunshine that we in the West love to allow into our homes, while in Japan, they filter the light. This gives it a diffuse quality, rather than flooding everything with its intensity. It creates shadows, and gives things and people intimacy and mystery.

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A morning in Kyoto

There are different ways to start the day. You can get up and get straight down to work, taking refuge in activity. You can also take time to observe nature, to contemplate a corner of our beautiful planet. To admire its beauty, the colours of a sunrise, the singing of a bird, the smell of damp earth. This morning, in Kyoto, I took a few steps out onto the balcony, I sat down on the little bridge that extends out from it, and spent a long time rejoicing in the presence of these beautiful carps.

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The joy of receiving

In Japan, when you receive a gift, you don’t open it. You don’t feel the need to. First, you admire the wrapping, then you thank the person who has given it. You are touched by their attention. You are very happy. You still don’t open it.

This year, what if we too were satisfied with the happiness of receiving a gift, without wondering what it was? What if we took the time to experience fully this wonderful moment, when someone shows us how much they care?

I wish you a very happy festive season!

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Strange shapes in the Japanese tea fields

Because tea plants don’t like frost, Japanese tea fields are populated by strange shapes. When their blades are turning at the top, these fans prevent freezing air from stagnating above the bushes.

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