perfect or attempt to make something perfect, it just doesn’t work.

Some parts of the ‘old-me’ still remain, as I can’t instantly shed the previous eighteen years of my life.

But, I will definitely learn and improve over time. As Sonya once told me, even “the most beautiful
Japanese garden has weeds”. I realize that there is so much to see in this world. In this short time period I
call life, I am both a Gaijin (outsider) and a Yujin (friend). But above all, I am a Ningen (human) who
appreciates beauty in imperfection.

Works Cited
Powell, Richard R. Wabi Sabi Simple. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2005. Print.

Bibliography Fujisawa, Chikao. Zen and Shinto; the Story of Japanese Philosophy. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1971.

Print. Juniper, Andrew. Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence. Boston: Tuttle Pub., 2003. Print.

Kamachi, Noriko. Culture and Customs of Japan. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999. Print.

Mansfield, Stephen, and Donald Richie. Japanese Stone Gardens: Origins, Meaning, Form. Tokyo: Tuttle
Pub., 2009. Print.

Tames, Richard. A Traveller's History of Japan. New York: Interlink, 1993. Print.

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