A frog smokes a cigarette in this detail from "The Waiting" by Taeko Takezawa.

"I am a totally different type from the other people you've interviewed," says painter Taeko Takezawa as she lights up a clove cigarette. "I am not living my life with any kind of issue consciousness. I'm just trying to find some independence and freedom."

I tell her I'm not interested in types, that I'm interested in people who make a courageous decision to break with social expectations and live a life they believe in.

"No," she disagrees in her unequivocal style, "I'm not courageous. I simply knew I couldn't go on living the life I was living."