Senses

Sitting on a tatami mat and looking outside into the garden is one of the most beautiful ways to wash away daily frustration. It takes some time, but than you can experience all the senses to relax and enjoy the

Beauty

What is beauty? Should art be beautiful? Last week during the presentation of Alex de Wolf’s work (one of the participants in this AIR project) we had an interesting discussion about beauty and art. He showed a temple surrounded by

Touching

Taking off your shoes is not very common in the west. At home I take of my shoes in the evening, but not during daytime. But here in Kyoto it’s an ungoing activity. – entering the house/temple -> take off

Characters

The relationship between Japan and China is one of a long history and many different qualities. The Japanese written language (Kanji) is based on the chinese ideograms (pictorially based symbols that stand for a word). So although they can communicate

Language

Suwa-san talked about another important issue in relation to language and culture. The japanese are sparing with words: ‘a word spoken will never come back.’ ‘to speak is a big responsibility.’ ‘the art of not speaking in a sophisticated way.’