Brooks Walker
Japan

Japan is the Italy of Asia. The Japanese sense of design reflects an intuitive and earthy awareness of textures, tones, and asymmetrical form. The Japanese have a profound sensitivity to life and their surroundings; for them, human spaces are meant to interact harmoniously with the environment. When I was shooting Chambord castle in the Loire Valley, I thought of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto—the contrast is night and day. For me, Chambord is superficial and a violation to the senses; even though it was wonderful to see and photograph, it completely misses the greater purpose of a “palace in the woods.”

Furthermore, in Japan the Imperial Tea House is modeled after a peasant farmer’s house, for the purpose of taking you into the spiritual level of the surroundings. There’s a connection between the tea bowl in the hand and nature; the color and flavor of green tea counterpoints with the glaze and shape of the bowl that surrounds it, and how it tastes and feels relates to the simplicity of the house that surrounds it. The house in turn, is complimented by the garden or forest that it is in. There’s an integrity to the whole thing. Everything is geared around the "Realm of the Senses." It is the “Empire of the Senses.”

Brooks Walker is a contributing photographer to TRAVELER’s 50 Places of a Lifetime issue.