The gateway to Hakone's onsen (hot spring) resorts, Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, is known for its castle and kamaboko fishcakes, refined by the mineral-rich waters of the bordering mountains. Yukie Kamiya was raised in its quiet confines; her parents sold porcelain wares. "They didn't move," she says. "I was born and grew up and my parents were still running the shop."

So, after entering Waseda University in 1985 as an undeclared major, Kamiya soaked in the Tokyo metropolis. "I was very excited: 'There's so many things to see!' I would buy weekly magazines like Time Out and check the galleries and museums just to explore," she recalls.

On one such expedition to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Kamiya had a revelatory experience: seeing the work of printmaker Shoichi Ida. "I was fascinated," she says, "and it became immediately clear — I am not an artist. I am working to be involved in art." Just 18 years old, Kamiya had never before considered art as a career; she didn't even know art history was a major. Soon, however, she declared it her own.