Absorbing the glamorous culture of Europe and America, indulging in sophisticated luxury hotels... this might seem like a natural travel style for an artist at the forefront of mode, but Matsuura found herself wanting to enjoy travel from a slightly different perspective. Last year, she visited Cuba, and she is currently planning a trip to Bhutan. Her pursuit isn't about following trends or seeking rarity; it's driven by a clear, personal objective. What she gains from these experiences profoundly influences her lifestyle, her artistic sensibility, and her approach as a hairstylist, becoming more refined with each journey.

I returned from London, which I discussed in the first installment of this series, when I was 30. My travels up to that point were for my own "learning," a search for who I was. In a sense, I was seeking my own essential femininity. Then, from age 30 to 39, I had decided on my path as a beautician and hair artist, and it was a period of reaching beyond myself. So, I was superficially drawn to beautiful things, thinking, "I must know more about elegance" or "I must experience a more glamorous world than my everyday reality."

Back then, I traveled all over Italy, explored Andalusia in Spain, and stayed in New York for about two months. I was seeking out the wonderful things that exist in established places like cities. However, from age 39 onwards, I began to consciously draw inspiration from "what is missing," rather than from what I had already acquired. Because it's about what's missing, there's no waste. For my work, "no waste" meant a process of subtraction, moving away from the elaborately styled, voluminous hair I had created. Looking back, I still feel that the styles I created up until age 39 were very voluminous. I was pursuing elegance, and I also loved the 60s, so I created a lot of voluminous hair without considering the natural proportions of Japanese people. As a result, the desire to strip things down gradually emerged... that was at age 39. From then on, I pursued subtraction. How could I leave behind the beautiful elements by removing the excess? Whether it was elegance, cuteness, or femininity, I wanted to refine it by preserving its essential qualities, without losing the elements that make a woman, well, a woman. That was my starting point.

That year, I was also walking extensively in Japan, between Wakayama and Kumano, climbing mountains. In essence, I was stripping myself down. And as I began to understand the direction of this self-stripping, I intuitively felt that this "tent life" was right at the heart of it, a second chance to find myself in a good way. I wanted to shed the 'greasy' parts of myself and become more solid. During those 10 days in Baja California, I took off my watch. I had no idea what time it was, but by looking at the sun's position when I woke up, I could tell, "Ah, the sun is at 5:30 now," or "It's around 11 o'clock." We drove everywhere. For three and a half hours straight, we wouldn't encounter a single person or house.

Most of the journey to our destination was barren land where not even plants grew. As we approached the sea, the climate became more humid, and we began to see greenery. We finally reached an area with cacti, confirming we were close to the sea. We stopped to rest, delighted.

Before my time in London, in my 20s, I spent money on myself to refine myself. But I realized I was just caught up in that feeling, and I shed it all during my time in London. Because I was living in poverty, I was able to return to my true self. However, that "true" self at the time lacked experience and felt like it was before the starting line. In terms of rediscovering my senses, I didn't have enough internal factors. Perhaps I stripped myself down too much, or returned to my core too much. But thanks to that experience, I was able to rebuild myself between the ages of 31 and 35.

But as my work became more diverse, I started to try and present myself in a certain way again (laughs). I thought I was living authentically in my late 30s, but I told myself, "Okay, I need to invest more in myself," and ended up buying too many expensive things, believing that "money is meant to be spent." I wanted to do something a step above what I was doing with my 20s salary. In the end, I became excessively "greasy" with it all, and my ability to discern what was truly good became blurred. "This is good, that is good too, because they are all good!" (laughs). At that time, I had an opportunity to go to Senegal in Africa for work, and those 10 days there undoubtedly became a catalyst for my subsequent self-stripping and self-refinement... Looking back, the fact that I wasn't with my child made it a great opportunity to feel "something" significant.

What did I truly desire from my core? I realized I needed to go and search for what I genuinely wanted to express, not what everyone else desired. This was the same feeling I had when I moved to London at 27. I felt I had more knowledge than back then, but perhaps not enough wisdom or intellect. I thought I needed to refine myself again, to strip myself down again, and so I headed to Mexico.

During the trip, I was truly moved by everything I saw. First, it was like a cactus museum! Everywhere I looked, there were cacti. It was as if the entire Tokyo metropolitan area was a cactus museum. And then, a world of just desert, sea, and mountains; the sun, moon, wind, clouds... Tears streamed down my face every day – "Was the sunset always this color?" The orange before it set, blending with the sea into a strange purple, a mix of pink and orange, a deep indigo... colors I had seen and yet hadn't seen, like in "Betty Blue," like in France, like somewhere I'd been. But the entire sky above me was just so magnificent. I tried to capture it. I kept applying paint to paper, and even the colors on my hands and brush became extraordinary. But when I finished, I thought, "It's not this dirty color, is it?" (laughs).

…I couldn't give it form. Again and again, every day, I tried to express it through color and painting, but I was never satisfied with the colors I produced. That's when I realized, "I should trust my own eyes, trust my five senses." I was able to return to my true self. This was a journey where I felt that what I truly desired was not within my grasp, and therefore I had to experience it. I felt like I had returned to '1,' ready to start again. ...I don't want to go back to zero, you know (laughs). I like going back, but not to zero. Starting over from '1.' Baja California is my element. It was a journey where I reaffirmed that I would trust my five senses again.

Speaking of travel, before, I wanted to go to Paris or Florence, but Baja California was a trip where I knew the purpose I needed. My travels in my 30s were direct: going because I admired it, because it seemed wonderful, because it could connect to my work. But the 10 days in Baja California were about lifestyle, about being a mother, about being a woman.