Eleven years ago, Michiyo Durt-Morimoto did not go on her usual visit to Europe. She wrote to her longtime teacher in Belgium that she was preparing a book on her 25 years of artistic production. He replied that the book would mark the completion of only one period of her life, a "prelude of what is still to come." He complimented her, writing, "Of all my students you have proved to be the most successful." His letter became the preface to her book.
Michiyo noted that in her student days she visited Cezanne's atelier in Provence. The Mediterranean and pine trees reminded her of Japan's Inland Sea.
She dreamed of having her own stained glass studio on Shioya hill in Kobe. In time she achieved not only the hillside atelier but also, on the same property, an old Japanese-style house where she and her family live. There, she said, "the changes in weather and the movement of sea and clouds stimulate creativity."