First trip to Japan
Sep 15, 2025
On the last night in Tokyo, we went back to Pas Loin, a small natural wine bar in Ginza.
It's a standing only bar. There is no wine list. The host simply ask what you want and bring it up. The food menu was surprisingly expansive. We watched as the chef fried spring rolls, steamed shumai, and assembled a complicated dish with winter melon and whelk in a compact but well-equipped kitchen.
The two hosts were completely unfazed, even as the bar filled to the brim with customers and barely enough space to stand.
Everywhere we went in Japan, from small restaurants to clothing stores, I could almost always feel the care and pride in the work itself. Whether it was making clay pot rice or describing the fabric of a garment, people seemed to genuinely love what they do.
In Kyoto, at Tenryu-ji Temple, intention and refinement echo through centuries of history. The meditation and ceremonial halls have been meticulously restored: paper sliding doors carry faint square patches where holes were mended, and wooden rails are finished with delicate engraved metal fittings. In the garden, rocks are arranged like waterfalls and bridges—an artful shaping of nature that, in some ways, feels even more than natural.
I was reading The Building of Horyu-ji by master carpenter Tsunekazu Nishioka on the plane. One passage on the pride and tradition of working as a temple and shrine carpenter struck me:
Building a pagoda means joining wood,
Joining wood means matching the wood’s traits,
Matching the wood’s traits means matching human traits,
Matching human treats means matching human hearts,
The matching of human hearts refers to the master carpenter’s consideration for his workers. Rather than criticizing the faults of others, consider your own faults first.
Nuances and layers of the Japanese culture aside, I can clearly feel this throughline from the past to the present, from the miraculously restored temples to the most efficiently run bar kitchens, all filled with so much tenacity, intention, and care.
It all made me feel inspired to live with more intention, to notice and understand the histories and materials around us, and to be grateful for the chance to see, touch, and feel the beauty in front of me.
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