WHERE THE EYE WANDERS
April 2025
This trip was years in the making, inspired by my daughter’s deep love for Japanese culture. What we found there was even more magical than we she – or, as it turns out, I – could have imagined. Japan is a place so richly layered and textured, reshaping the way I engaged with my surroundings in a way I had never experienced. Countless moments that invited us to look more closely, to linger and to be fully present.
We arrived at peak sakura bloom, and I’ll never forget the surreal, almost blinding pinkness of Ueno Park where hundreds (thousands?) of Japanese families had gathered that day to immerse themselves in the seemingly endless blossom. In Japan, nature isn’t simply admired; it’s cared for, curated, and shaped into living art. There’s such reverence in the way human creativity works in harmony with the natural world.
An unforgettable experience was Oku-no-in cemetery in Koyasan. Tucked deep in a cedar forest, the path winding past 200,000 shrines, graves, and five-tiered stupas representing the elements: earth, fire, water, air, and wind. Ethereal shafts of light filtered through the trees, and it felt like we were walking through another realm entirely. For the children beside us it was like wandering into a Studio Ghibli film — otherworldly, sacred, serene.
On Naoshima Island, we explored Tadao Ando’s remarkable architecture, with the Chichu Art Museum a highlight. You pass through dark, compressed spaces before entering courtyards and rooms flooded with natural light, creating powerful contrasts. This effect is most striking in the subterranean ‘Monet’ gallery, where the space is so stark, so white, so precisely lit by natural light that the paintings themselves seem to vibrate with energy. Monet’s Water Lilies like you never thought you could experience them – in full luminous power.. It’s in these carefully crafted zones of emptiness and shadow that Ando heightens your sensory awareness, making the play of light all the more profound.
Encouraged by a dear friend, I’ve begun reading In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, reflecting on how darkness is treasured in Japan. From the deep gloss of lacquerware to the way miso soup merges with the shadow of its bowl, to the soft diffusion of light through shoji screens and handmade paper. A reverence in all for subtlety and quiet beauty.
The wonderfully poetic concept of komorebi — the interplay of sunlight filtering through leaves — also finds sublime and moving expression in Wim Wenders’ recent masterpiece Perfect Days. Worth watching, and rewatching.
I feel lucky to have crossed paths with a way of being in Japan that you don’t want to let go of —quiet, grounded, and deeply intentional. More to write soon….
Every trip we take unfolds a myriad of stories all at once, and after we get back home we tell only a few of them, even to ourselves.
Pico Iyer