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In college, I took a four week Japanese Tea Ceremony class in an authentic Japanese Tea House complete with a roji and taught by a woman tea master from Japan, and I purchased my first copy of The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo. This transformed my life, as I realized there were other ways of living (slowing down, mindful actions, the importance of ritual in daily tasks, Wabi Sabi) than I had known before. Since then, I have immersed myself as much as possible in learning about traditional Japanese culture and how the philosophies of this culture can enrich the lives of people today. My studies have mostly focused on the Japanese Tea Ceremony, but I also have studied Japanese Temple gardens, Ikebana, poetry, and history of Japan. A trip to Japan in 2019, which I call a field trip as I learned much and brought back a lot of information, allowed me to visit places I had learned about and more deeply feel the spaces and essence of the Japanese culture. My library of books about Japanese traditional arts is expanding and covers not only Tea Ceremony and Ikebana, but also art, calligraphy,  architecture, gardens, ceramics, poetry, history, and more. I am looking forward to this class and learning from the practitioners and teachers. As I live in the USA in New England, I will not be on the live Zoom class (it takes place in the early morning hours my time!), but I will watch the Zoom video when they come out the next day. Thank you for making this class possible.