"Japan is a culture of wrappers, of postcards and books, of concealed jealousies and desires. Layer upon layer to peel through, only to get to more wrappers. As well as creating privacy, this creates a curious mystery. Nothing is spelled out; it must be discovered. There is an unseen drama in the shadows which hide as well as describe. It is important in Japanese to talk around the subject; something is lost in being direct. If the area around the subject is described and defined, then what you have left is the thing intact; not broken down, but as it actually exists..."
--Barbra Esher on Japan, as quoted in The Visionary Pinhole, by Lauren Smith, Peregrine Smith Books, 1985.
