The late potter Michiaki Kaneshige said that even though he grew up in an ancient potting family, he never fully understood the value of Japanese culture until he left these shores.

Indeed, you have to step outside of your own identifying boundaries, self-imposed or otherwise, to really understand the truth of who you are, to see the forest for the trees. Otherwise, that "truth" is indoctrination more than anything else. Kaneshige was "set free" through his travels. This is the case for some people when they come in contact with a different culture, and especially for those who come to Japan to learn an art or expand on what they already know. A Japanese art or way, whether painting, Zen or tea, is most often something foreigners have never seen in their own cultures. Immersing themselves in it often radically changes their own perception of themselves and their paths in life. Some, after a while, find no need for boundaries at all.

That's how American potter John Dix feels about how his world has been spinning since he came to Japan in 1989 to continue his pottery studies.