Nicolas BouvierJapon

Japan isn't so much a mysterious country as a mystifying one. You do your research. You read. You arrive with a few modest, naive, precise hopes, a few notions of good taste gleaned from between the pages, and at least you expect the country to confirm them. After twenty months there, you return with your head so muddled you doubt your own existence. The few certainties you packed have unwittingly transformed into so many riddles. And there are still people who say Japan has no sense of humor! You think about the time that's passed, about the butterfly net so often brandished, and you open your suitcase for the return trip, thinking: "All the same, I've got something here." A familiar mist escapes, a scent of seaweed and soy sauce that already captivates you. A land of smells, Japan. Sometimes the faint echo of a burst of laughter. And that's all! For the moment, at least. It will silently fill up, your suitcase, in the years to come, a retrospective country, Japan. (text in the book, written by Bouvier)