We're in Shuzenji to visit with our friend whom we met almost one year ago, Hijame Imura and his lovely wife. He is a self-taught artist who made his living as a sake salesman, before retiring and taking up his art full time. He is well-traveled having been to many countries with his wife during his career. Now he spends his time in one of his two studios in his home in Izu City. One studio he keeps for his illustration work and one he keeps for his ceramics. Space in tight in Japan in all homes, but in Izu the area is spread out enough as a mountain town that he can maximize the space and still have plenty of home to live in.

Traveling with new pals and old is a bit of our Modus Operandi. We like to mix people we know, but that don't really know each other when we plan a group trip. This usually keeps things exciting and fresh. It also keeps everyone a bit more open to whatever may happen, by braking down barriers of interpersonal interaction.

We traveled with our pal Miki Uchiyama who lives in NYC currently. He helped us find our way, shared his family with us in Tokyo, and played translator for the entire 9 day journey through Tokyo, Kyoto and now to Izu. Additionally, our pal Travis Waters came along for the jouney on his way to China. We all shared lodging in Onsen across the country and took in the cherry blossom season while we made our way to learn to make ceramics with Hajime.

We had a wonderful journey to meet with Hajime for a second time with new friends. We asked him to help us make some ceramics for a travel candle idea we want to make while we were in his company. He said to make many vessels will take some time, but he is happy to help us.

It is amazing that a year ago, we stumbled through this little city with our pal Arsenio Torres in a rented camper van while we toured Japan in search of master ceramicists. We happened to meet Hajime only via sign language ( primitive) and smiles after we exited the onsen that sits almost across the street from his home. We speak no Japanese ( something we hope to change soon), so our initial meeting was based on trust and good energy. If it were not for Hajime's wife, we would never had met as she was hanging laundry when we asked if we could see more about the ceramics on display in front of his home. Lucky for us she was kind enough to assist.