My Studio in Tucson
In my studio in Tucson, pictured above, my paints and supplies are spread out on a table made from the treasure house door of our farmhouse in Japan. If you're worried that we left a treasure house (kura) without a door, we didn't! The roof of the kura flew off in a typhoon the year before we moved to the village. The door was all that remained of the treasure house. Just as the farmhouse excited my imagination, now I'm energized by Tucson and I still keep that farmhouse with me in the presence of the door. The shape of the mountains in my paintings are becoming craggy like the ones I see on the horizon here. In the past weeks, I've returned to "The Bear Story," a chapter of a book I wrote and published in Japan. In this illustration, the grandfather bear gathers the young bears to tell them an old story.
The Bear Story
A New Old Work
One year, when we were living in the village of Fukubatake in the foothills of the alps, the bears began to come down from the mountains and into our village. That happening became one of the chapters of my book of stories about the village. In 2026, I made 12 new illustrations and published it as a book. This illustration shows the grandfather bear recounting the legend of why foxes were their friends.
The Bear Story
A New Old Work
One year, when we were living in the village of Fukubatake in the foothills of the alps, the bears began to come down from the mountains and into our village. That happening became one of the chapters of my book of stories about the village. In 2026, I made 12 new illustrations and published it as a book. This illustration shows the grandfather bear recounting the legend of why foxes were their friends.