Now that my journey abroad is over, I really have a lot of time to reflect on the work I did in Japan as well as the interactions I cherished. To recap, my journey started in Roppongi, Tokyo, then I moved to Kamogawa, Chiba, and from there I spent about a week in Kyoto before going back to Tokyo again. Kyoto was the point in my program where I had the opportunity to experience old Japanese culture and tradition and connect that to the sustainability practices and issues that I learned in Kamogawa. While in Kyoto, I was able to visit a multitude of shrines and temples and participate in small practices like praying/cleansing my hands, and meditation in the Zen gardens. In addition to learning about these routines, I was able to participated in a natural dye workshop with Yasuo Kawabata.
Within this workshop, I had the opportunity to learn about different dyeing methods, the resources used for them and how ethical the mediums used were. Using this lesson, I was able to dye my own scarf with the colors of my choosing. Not only was this experience fun and interactive, but I learned that the yellow dye that is created from dried Marigold originates from the Kamogawa region! Talk about a full circle lesson! These connections in both resources and sustainability only further solidified my passion to create a design proposal that fosters an international web of communication and passage of knowledge/culture.
Kyoto, Japan taught me various lessons in ethical resource curation, traditional Japanese culture, and the development of community support. I am so grateful to be able to participate in these activities and be able to apply them to my design work. Not only Kyoto, but all the places I was able to visit during this program will forever be carried into my future work. I am more than excited to see what I will be able to create and I look forward to creating more illustrative and graphic design work that can benefit others and improved their way of life.
Please stay tuned for my Post-Program Vlog where I will talk about the work I produced and presented to the MUJI team in Tokyo.
