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Recently, my advisor drew this simple diagram to explain the difference between Japanese and Western conceptions of surface. While we generally value exterior as a direct extension/expression of core meaning (toward authenticity), in Japan omote (front) compliments, but is not necessarily derived from ura (back/hidden side). That surface may be (acceptably) detached from meaning seems especially counterintuitive from a designer’s perspective, as we are taught that each element should mean something. But this is what I love about Japanese visual culture, that there is room for the unexplainable, and that surfaces can be borrowed, reinterpreted and recombined in unexpected ways.