Beauty Hiding in Bath Time

One of the things I enjoy most about staying in Japan is taking a bath.

We're staying at my parents' house, and I can take a bath every day. Even in the middle of a hot Japanese summer, I still enjoy it.

And I usually add bath salts.

Japan has so many different kinds of bath products, with different scents, colors, and effects. Choosing one is part of the fun.

One day, I dropped a bath tablet into the water and noticed something fascinating happening on the surface.

It created bubbles—but not the kind of bubbles you see in a glass of soda. The pattern was almost like an amoeba. It looked organic, with soft, curvy shapes that slowly moved and changed, and all over the surface.

I couldn't stop looking at it.

In these couple of years, I've been very interested in geometric patterns. When I draw them, every line is carefully planned using a ruler and compass. Straight lines, circles, symmetry, and repetition.

But this pattern was the complete opposite.

Nothing was straight.

No two shapes were exactly the same.

The lines curved and moved, constantly changing their form.

And somehow, I found it beautiful.

It was just a bath.

Just a bath tablet dissolving in water.

But it reminded me that inspiration doesn't always come from an art museum, a design book, or a carefully planned trip.

Sometimes it appears on the surface of your bathtub.

I don't know yet how this feeling or this pattern might find its way into my work.

Maybe it won't.

But that's okay.

I think the important thing is simply to notice it.

There is beauty hiding everywhere.