Anyone who has had the pleasure of visting Japan has been touched by the attention to detail and the level of care that each induvidual has for their craft, the space that they occupy. You can really feel this when you are totally present in your environment and disconnected from the world around you.

You notice the ever-changing colors on the trees. You notice the way the towels outside the onsen are folded. You notice that each item with breakfast is served on a different ceramic dish and is uniquely beautiful. You notice that when you put your shoes on and are ready to go outside, the staff has taken liberty of dusting off the dirt from your day of exploring the day before.

And it is all of these seemingly small moments, that are not so insignificant. That are not so small. There is beauty in the every day, in service, in hospitality.

Japan is such a special place, a place I hope to return to someday. This hotel in Hakone is tucked away in the neighborhood of Gora. From the moment that you arrive on site, you can feel the warmth of the staff and the pride they feel in the work they do. From the smell of the hallway, to the radio / speaker in the dining area for putting on your tunes of choice during dinner, there is no detail that goes overlooked. This recent trip has inpsired me to slow down more and notice the small things that affect our daily lives. Someone, somewhere has put thought into the end result I see before me.

The questions I am asking myself now are: how can I make little choices that can positively impact the end result of someone’s day? How can I do something seemingly small that is actually not so small? When it comes to my work in the real estate industry, how can I train my eye to see additional value in an apartment home or a New York City neighborhood, something I can share with clients or potential buyers? When I am working with a seller to put their apartment home, what can I highlight to buyers that speaks to their core beliefs? It is questions like these that both challenge and encourage me to look at things from a different perspective.