There’s something about small things and spaces that makes you want to arrange them just so. And there’s something about arrange things just so, and seeing them arranged that way, that provokes a certain meditativeness and calm.

I am undoubtedly the millionth or so person to have observed this, but it means much more when you feel it from your gut.

I write this for a hotel room in Narita, so when I talk about small spaces I speak of first hand experience. Many things– like the tray at breakfast– are intentionally smaller than they need to be, and in an odd way I really appreciate it. It gives me an intuitive insight into both the Japanese aesthetic and Japanese technology.