When I think of Japanese people, sweet and docile are the adjectives that spring to mind. This perspective is obviously based on personal experience rather than Japanese movies. I am guessing that those are the closest many of us ever come to connecting with anything Japanese. Thus I was keen to interview an artist from the land of the rising sun, trusting this would reinforce my view of these people. I was looking forward to meeting Michiko Kinjo.

Michiko is actually from Okinawa, yet definitely fits the bill. I had ignorantly assumed Okinawa had always belonged to Japan. When Michiko explained that it used to be an independent kingdom until only 135 years ago, I was reminded yet again that it would have been useful to remain awake during history class! She went on to explain that Okinawa is a subtropical island, and its history is not too far removed from our own island’s story.

Strategically situated between China and Japan, it was often a primary target during invasion plans. It also has a history of occupation by the Americans, while the Maltese have a British rule to speak of. These were only some of the reasons which attracted Michiko to Malta when she decided to move to the Mediterranean, she said.

Why did she decide to move away from Okinawa?

She explained that Okinawa is home, and she painted several originals based on the islands belonging to the Okinawa Prefecture for many years. Eventually she felt the desire to experience a different environment. “I wanted to paint Mediterranean islands, so since very different from Okinawa home, not enough to use thought, had to bring body here!”

Her English is far from perfect, but I found that her expression went beyond words, often using deep eye contact and her body language while she spoke to me, helping to convey the message. “We are human, different culture but we understand our feeling,” she smiled.

What led her to settle in Malta as her base in the Mediterranean?

When she first decided that her fascination for painting islands would lead her to this part of the world, a friend of hers from Okinawa suggested she should base herself here. The professor had visited Malta during an international conference and was struck by the island. He knew a little about its history and gave Michiko her first information about Malta. Beyond that Michiko said it was very difficult for her to obtain further information from any other sources.

Eventually she arrived in Malta on a tourist visa in 1997. After two months, Okinawa TV came to make a documentary about her in Malta. She had planned to make an exhibition here, so her attempts to realise her wish were part of the programme. As she went from contact to contact, she met Evarist Bartolo, then Minister of Education and Culture. He had already heard about her and was interested in her work. She said he was instrumental to her case, helping her in many ways, and that without his help she could not have stayed in Malta and executed her resultant work.

Mr Bartolo helped her organise an exhibition at the Mdina Cathedral Museum, which drew about 60 people from Okinawa to her launch. She showed me a letter from the Okinawa Prefecture thanking Mr Bartolo for the support given to Michiko, who is a reputed artist in Okinawa, Japan and China. He assured amicable relations would ensue, commencing a cultural exchange between the two parties. This was also one of Michiko’s goals when she first came to Malta, and did not stop at simply suggesting her ideas to Mr Bartolo. Therefore even Michiko’s visa allowing her to remain on the island to perform her artistic cross-cultural work became a reality.

What kind of work had she planned in the Mediterranean?

She explained that when she first arrived she was simultaneously planning three major exhibitions in Malta, China and Japan, in 1997-1998. She had already exhibited several times since the beginning of her career in 1984, and her latest exhibition was held at the Urasoe City Art Museum in Japan in 2003. However, that was a particularly stressful time and resulted in medical problems on top of that.

However her real intention was to use Malta as a base while visiting all the Mediterranean area. She went to Greece six times, Turkey twice, Cyprus, Egypt, Tunisia twice, Morocco twice, Italy five times, Germany, France, and England four times, as well as visiting Capri and the Balearic islands. She visited 200 locations, while tending to her fragile health on a daily basis.

She remarked that in Okinawa she never drew any sketches, but painted directly onto paper. However, when she moved to the Mediterranean, the entirely new landscape created such a movement inside her that she was inspired to sketch and sketch, using the sketches to later develop originals. She said that now she displays her sketches alongside her originals during exhibitions.

What mediums does she use in her paintings?

Michiko’s work would traditionally be known as Sumie as it involves the use of traditional Japanese black ink and a single animal brush. She explained that the ink, which originated in China 2000 years ago, came in seven shades of black.

Michiko told me that she had no teacher. Smiling humbly, she told me how she has heard from experts that she has caused a Kakume, a revolution, since she was the first person using traditional ink and brush to emerge with such a style. She said her style can be copied, but it will remain known as The World of Light and Shadow, the recurring name of all her exhibitions.

A particularity of Michiko’s work is that she paints on non-absorbent paper, and uses no water or line at all. Michiko explained that although Japanese paper is very famous for its durability, lasting 1,000 years, she still opted for European paper. “Japanese paper no good for my style as it drinks water!” she told me. She added that when she came to the Med, she noticed a significant difference in light and colour compared to Japan. This led her to use papyrus from Egypt and parchment in cream colour to reflect the mood of the area she now found herself in.

What has she achieved during her stay here?

Michiko told me she made eleven original pictures in Malta. She explained that it takes her anything from two weeks to four months to complete one painting, depending on its size and the detail involved. She told me she still has enough undeveloped sketches to allow her to work consistently for another three years, work which she plans to continue in Okinawa. In fact, she plans to return next month, and claimed, while closing her eyes and holding her heart, “This is why I want to very much thank the Maltese people and the Maltese government, honest from my heart. My work here is finished now.”

Did she have any special thanks to give?

Michiko told me again that Mr Bartolo was the one who she wanted to thank most, since he was instrumental to her success story in the Mediterranean.

She added that although generally the Maltese people were very warm and helpful to her, finding friendship from many, she had one special friend whom she considers more like a sister, and that is Mrs Barbara Buttigieg. While laughing endearingly, Michiko said, “Barbara Buttigieg gave me Maltese soup, Maltese life, and good advice, week after week for all these years!”

What will she leave behind?

She showed me a paper documenting the donation of a couple of her originals, and 33 original photo negatives, as a gift to the Maltese nation. One of the original paintings is found at the Mdina Cathedral Museum and the other at the Malta National Gallery in Valletta. Seven of the photo negatives were of Malta, one of China and the rest of Japan. The document was dated March 2001 and included a clause whereby she renounced copyright on her donated works and negatives, “so Malta can make money from them,” she smiled.

What are her plans for the future?

She told me that she is transferring all her work material to Okinawa, where she will seek to set up a studio and continue her work based on the sketches done here. When her work based on the Mediterranean is finished, she intends to go to the Caribbean islands. She said there are also many islands there which will provide plenty of material on her favourite subject, and she appreciated, “I am also looking for shadow. Caribbean islands have different light from Okinawa or Mediterranean, but although shadow is same everywhere, environment is different so shadow is different. For this I need to take body, I cannot use imagination from house.”

Her world is a world of light and shadow. This is the meaning of her name, Michiko. Looking at her paintings it is impressive how well she manages to portray the world with the absence of colour. “Only one time I was fighting inside. One sunset was so beautiful, all wine colour, and I was thinking, how I can put this in the painting in black and white? Only this one time, I used traditional red colour in the painting. Other times I am only looking at the effect of light and shadow.”

I can only add that she does this to such great effect you could almost believe such a world without colour exists, just as beautiful as the one we know, only different. Or is it just the same really, when the illusion is dropped? Our world is a world of contrasts. It is the balanced marriage of opposites that creates the complete whole.

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Several of Michiko Kinjo’s works inspired in the Mediterranean are collected in a book called Islands of Okinawa and Mediterranean Sea: The World of Light and Shadow – Sumie-Japanese Inkbrush Painting, 2003. This is one of eight books published by Michiko, including The Sumie Collection: The World of Light and Shadow Volumes 1-6, and Shurie Castle, the Bell of Seiden – Sumie: The World of Light and Shadow – collaboration.