I had an older friend in my early days in Japan and the thing he always used to say was ‘nandemo taiken’, it’s all about the experience.

This is true when you’re partaking in something, you want to feel something for the real experience rather than seeing it through someone else’s eyes, or by comparing things to your expectations of the experience.

It is also true retrospectively. Having gone through experiences is often the only way you can learn, well, basically anything.

Go into experiences with a pure heart, and see them with a pure heart as well. Then you can get an understanding for what’s what.