I often get asked “Rob, what’s your favourite country you’ve travelled to?” It’s a difficult one to answer, I can more easily name my top 3. But Japan has most of the time been my favourite (I’ve been 3 times), and that’s what I usually tell people. I had many incredible things happen to me there, and there was so much I liked about the people and the place. On my first visit, it was my first time trying out couchsurfing in a foreign country, and I stayed with families and friendly Japanese people, some who couldn’t speak a word of English, and it all worked out really well.
I painted this study yesterday from my own reference photo of Nagoya Castle, which I took on my last visit in 2016. I found these samurai castles fascinating, I wanted to explore all of them, and Japan has so many!

This one in Nagoya was very impressive, if you visit one day, go check it out.

I painted this in watercolour & gouache, lightweight watercolour paper 8.2” X 5.9”

You can view my Youtube video process here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89o3vWS7Ei8&t=85s