The street where the hotel I stayed at was located. The hotel is the grey

building on the right. I will never forget the very first time I stepped off the

train in Japan - it was just outside the station next to this hotel. That was

the first time I came face to face with "it" - 'wa' or 'harmony' as the Japanese

call it. 'Wa' is the indescribable spirit that emanates from everything, and I mean

everything in Japan. It is a sense of supreme calm - but it's a precision

calm. It cannot be described - you must go there to feel it. It is in everything in Japan -

from the people right down to the street pavement, plants, air, everything. And it is

real. I'm not making this up - it hit me in the face the very first time I set foot in Japan.