Silence – It keeps changing, so it never changes.

“ As long as I have shoes that fit my feet properly, I can walk anywhere. ”

Quotes from Atsuko Suga, “Yourcenar’s Shoes”

It was during lunch with my husband at our usual table in the restaurant that we were informed that the Park Hyatt Tokyo was undergoing a major renovation due to its aging facilities. This seat, which we like, creates a small space for two, reminiscent of a compartment on a train crossing Europe, but with a library at the end of the corridor. The corridor is bordered by library at the back, which makes it seem like a corner of the library, perhaps partly because of the many small, hand-held ex libris, each one framed and decorated. The installation is so well calculated that you feel that if you remove any one of the elements or decorations, the space would not be the same as it is, I was once told that John Morford’s intention was perfectly reflected in the hard-to-complete library. The bookshelves in the library are thoughtfully arranged by a book lover, with books that make you want to open and read them. The books are carefully crafted and from all over the world, both known and new to the reader, and show that the writers and makers have taken great care to bring them to the reader.

It is by no means just for interior decoration, but must have been arranged book by book on the shelves over time to the satisfaction of a book lover who is well versed in the field of the arts.

Once, on my birthday, the hotel surprised me by putting me through to the Diplomat Suite. At the dinner table, she took a photo of my face to commemorate the occasion, and my face blurred up and down so violently that rays of light streamed across my face like a tailed meteor and distorted it. It was failure, everyone agreed. But it was not amused by a photograph that reminded me of a painting by Francis Bacon, I immediately searched the bookshelves in the guest room. I soon found the book. The pictures were linked, through Bacon, to warm memories of the splendour and security of the room that right. Such is the state of the bookshelf. With the emergence of so many hotels in Japan competing for the finest, it is detail like this that keep the Park Hyatt Tokyo special for me.

The Park Hyatt Tokyo will be closed for nearly a year for major renovation. I am worried that the renewal will result in the hotel being subsumed by the luxury hotels that are now all the rage. The familiar landscape will be lost. More than the years after Stefano’s death, I can no longer go to Florence, which I used to visit every year, I feel a stirring when I imagine the landscape without him. His family has invited us to return many times, but we have not able to do so.

Stefano Bemer seemed to like the hotel very much, and his preferred seat was not this small one, but a box seat near the window. From my seat I can see the box seat where Stefano used to sit. It was Stefano’s style to always order a la carte, and he was happy with his penne and sometimes potage or onion gratin soup. Perhaps we like this seat because we can see Stefano from here in those days.

I can’t go to the airport where he always picked us up and dropped us off, the street where we walked side by side, or the Bistecca Fiorentina where we always ordered, because they seem to confirm that he is no longer here (Florence). And yet I visit the Park Hyatt Tokyo restaurant more than ever before and sit at this table opposite my husband, probably because I see Stefano from those days in the distance. I felt thick-skinned to tell the restaurant manager that I would feel a sense of loss if this seat disappeared with the renewal, and I told him that I was happy that the taste of Girandole’s curry had remained the same since the restaurant’s inception. As we talked, I realized that it couldn’t have remained the same. The chef must have changed several times, the ingredients available from time to time, the cooks, the waiters, the linen cloths.

“It’s about saying you keep changing so you don’t change, and you keep changing so you don’t change.”

Although we have been working on it little by little, it may be time to renovate our house. Our house, which is a synthesis of the Japanese house style and modernism by Keiji Yoshida, was not damaged by the earthquake or strong rains and winds, but we cannot resist the passage of time.

Stefano’s staff then moved with the shop to new owners. In addition, the shop was expanded globally and the brand was recognised in New York. Since Stefano Bemer’s sudden death in 2012, I thought I had had enough of Bespoke shoes. My husband, who has had his shoes made by Mr. Kawaguchi of Marquess for several years, suggested that I ask him to make mine, and I kept saying “enough”, but when I saw his shoes, I finally decided to order them. After a while from the initial fitting, I was contacted that two wonderful small crocodile leathers had been obtained, and having already seen how beautifully he handled the leather’s grain, I simply asked Kawaguchi-san to make what he thought was good. Mr. Kawaguchi told me, “It took a lot of courage for me to make an order for shoes from you two, especially knowing your relationship with Mr. Bemer and that you are familiar with bespoke.” My husband, upon seeing my finished shoes, said, “Kawaguchi-san has improved even further,” to which he replied, “I am also lucky to have been able to make shoes for both of you now.” The same quality is first continued and renewed while the technique is also honed. The first pair of shoes I asked Mr. Kawaguchi to make had a sharp bamboo grain on the small crocodile leather, which overlapped perfectly with the curve flowing down from the center of both feet. The shoes had a powerful grounding that belied their delicate size, and a quiet elegance, where opposites coexisted and became one.

Now that I have shoes that fit my feet properly, I can walk anywhere.