L'entrée principale est si petite qu'on passe facilement devant sans la voir. Il n'y a pas de hall, juste une salle de lecture et des recoins où s'asseoir et se détendre. Les couloirs fleuris et les chambres donnent tous sur un petit coin privatif du jardin parfaitement entretenu. Chaque pièce est un refuge avec un grand raffinement du détail.
The emperor of China asked his court painter,
«What's easy to paint and what's hard to paint?»
and the answer was
«Dogs are difficult, demons are easy.»
Quiet, low-key things like dogs in our immediate surroundings are hard to get right, but anybody can draw a demon.
Basic solutions to modern problems are difficult, but pouring money into expensive showpieces is easy.
uncontrollable excess is the defining quality of Japan's modern cultural crisis.
In the early 1990s, construction investment overall in Japan consumed 18.2 percent of the gross national product, versus 12.4 percent in the United Kingdom and only 8.5 percent in the United States.
He asked workers in Tokyo if they would disclose wrongdoing in their company; 99 percent said they would not.
Japan's economy is supported by illegal dumping
In 1994, concrete production in Japan totaled 91.6 million tons, compared with 77.9 million tons in the United States
To put it simply, Japan failed to develop mature financial markets – and the expertise that goes along with them
by 1993, 55 percent of the entire coast of Japan had been lined with cement slabs and giant concrete tetrapods
Ma mère m'a emmené un jour dans une boutique d'antiquités dans le quartier de Motomachi. J'observais avec émerveillement de vieux objets en porcelaine d'Imari, que l'on sortait avec grande précaution de leur emballage de paille. À cette vue, j'ai ressenti une fascination indescriptible. C’est à ce moment-là que je suis tombé amoureux du Japon.