Japan , a hectic, densely-populated country, has always been guilty of overloading the senses. It is only natural that here too an ameliorating aesthetic should have developed. This is best expressed by the calmness and simplicity of the tea ceremony.
Although chanoyu, or the way of tea, leads out of the comfort zone of accessible Japanese culture, this path also brings us to a more profound understanding of that culture.
You know you are on the right path when you enter Tokyo's Gotoh Museum and experience that first feeling of anticlimax. Although it has an extensive and impressive Japanese garden hidden behind the museum building, the current exhibition markedly lacks visual fireworks.