Recently returned from a trip to Japan, I used a small book purchased there to create this small memory piece. I was unprepared for the magnificently coloured and very contemporary fabrics being used in kimonos for the youth of Japan. The marrying of the old and new was visually very exciting. We arrived there on the eve of the Sakura festivals celebrating cherry blossom time, and the graduation of the university students. Students celebrated by going to the myriad of kimono hire shops and promenaded in the historic sites of their region. In Kanazawa at the Kenrokuen Gardens we saw the most spectacular of kimonos in one of the most beautiful gardens in Japan.