I'm very into the japanese sensibility. Oversize coats and baggy trousers.
One thing living in Japan did for me was to make me feel that what is left out of a work of art is as important as, if not more important than, what is put in.
For myself I don't like the geisha look. It's like a mask.
One must learn, if one is to see the beauty in Japan, to like an extraordinarily restrained and delicate loveliness.
I've always been inspired by Japanese style.
When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with nature - this very unique to Japan.
Spiritual space is lost in gaining convenience. I saw the need to create a mixture of Japanese spiritual culture and modern western architecture.
The Japanese are virtuosos. They make just the little accent that makes all the difference. So much there is so beautiful - just a shop window display is a work of art. Just the way they make all kinds of things out of bamboo that are so ingenious. Just the way this little bamboo drain or latch is so beautiful. The masonry around the streams to hold the bank are beautiful - and not all one kind and not just cement.
I want men to be more chic - and Japanese style has that kind of sophisticated elegance.
I have a thing for clean lines and beautiful form that I attribute to my four years in Tokyo and Kyoto. I also appreciate traditional architecture and a warm palette that I think my Midwest upbringing has something to do with.
It's true that I pick up many ideas from different Japanese things.
In a traditional Japanese or Chinese garden, it's not only about the building or temple but about the whole setup - the structure, the landscape, the light, the plants, the water. The whole experience that makes your life there so beautiful.
Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.
Sabi is the color of haikai. It is different from tranquility. For example, if an old man dresses up in armor and helmet and goes to the battlefield, or in colorful brocade kimono, attending (his lord) at a banquet, [sabi] is like this old figure.
I like wearing the things from Japan, because they usually get a different collection than we do.
I think I am obsessed with Lucie Rie. I love the way she collaborated with Miyake, who for me is probably the most important fashion designer of the 20th century.
What resonates culturally with me about Japanese style is that it is very covered up but very sensual.
I like what I see now in China, but I think the Japanese are a step ahead into craziness and weirdness. I go to galleries there that are the size of a New York elevator, and every time I'm surprised by the amazing things I find. I really hope I'll be able to promote some of these artists, to show their work in the West.
Japan is the only country I have visited that I want to go to again. I just feel the Japanese have such good taste and dedication to craftsmanship in everything they do. They also merge the traditional and modern aspects of their culture so well.
It's a Japanese way of thinking, that I give value for my merchandise. So I don't want to sell unnecessarily expensive dresses and make just 10 or 20 and then feel satisfied. I want to design for real women who can afford my dresses.
Look closely at the Japanese; they draw admirably and yet in them you will see life outdoors and in the sun without shadows.
I've been studying the cultures of Asia for many years, and I'm very attracted to the culture of Japan, in particular to the impact Zen has had on the Japanese mind and spirit.
If you're a director and you pay homage to Japan, you're definitely going to remember what you've learned from watching the Japanese masters' films.
I love Japanese design and fabrics. I also love people who make clothes for mass consumption but do it well and cleverly.
Since I am a Japanese man who's been building through the experience of Japanese architecture, my actual designs come from Japanese architectural concepts, although they're based on Western methods and materials.
