My favorite essayist Matsuura Yataro said that everything he encountered in life are jewels to be put into a treasure box. When he faces new challenges, he will open the box and pull out some of the jewels, to give him strength to keep going.

Heeding his advice, I have been collecting jewels from my 20+ years of immersion in Japanese culture. In this series of posts, I am going to share with you some of my most precious ones.