The 11 bottles contain different fragrances. These fragrance are all strongly related to my memories of the environment in which I grew up: Japan.

You can open the bottles, smell or 'hear' the aroma, or even wear them as an 'eau de cologne'.

Instruction:

Shake well before use.
Use the blotter paper (vloeipapier) to drip the fragrance onto. 
If you wish, you could wear them as 'eau de cologne'. 
After smelling a fragrance, you can refresh your nose by smelling briefly your own skin.
Please close well after use.

miso soup

Miso soup is a very standard soup in Japan, and each family has its own recipe. This fragrance is made according to my mother's recipe.

Rice is often eaten as a main dish in Japan. Any time of the day you would smell the rice from the electric rice-cooker.

It's extracted from my grandfather's calligraphy ink who passed away some years ago. He was a calligraphy master and that has certainly influenced my childhood. I've practiced it every weekend.

In the beginning of April the cherry blossom tree gives bloom all over Japan. People celebrate the new school year which starts around this time, and hold a sake-drinking party under this tree. The flowers give a sweet fragrance at night. At the climax they fall softly as snow. Even since I moved to The Netherlands, I appreciate the blooms at the Vondelpark every spring.

The fresh green smell of bamboo or rush (rush is used often for making a tatami mat) used to give me comfort in the hot, humid weather.

It's a sweet soup eaten often as a dessert. In the middle of January for about 2 weeks, school kids are obliged to run the short marathon every morning. By doing this in the coldest time of the year, you are suppose to gain resistance. They used to prepare the sweet bean soup for the kids who finished running so that this aroma could encourage the kids. I still somehow relate this aroma to the marathon experience in the freezing morning which I would never want to do again.

Soba is a cold/warm buckwheat noodle which is often eaten in Japan as a light-meal. This aroma comes from the soup for Soba. My memory relates this aroma to the train station because they often have soba-stands.

It's one of the essential spices for a Japanese dish, but it's impossible to find something in The Netherlands which could alternate this aroma. Therefore I am desperate for it. This year I've managed to grow plants from 24 seeds which were in the lemon I received from my mother. I've given a lot of these sprouts away to the Japanese immigrants who also wanted to dream about this lemon.

This is also one of the Japanese native spice as well as the yuzu lemon. It's not spicy nor hot but gives a special scent to the dish.

The standard medicine against diarrhea. If you take one your breath smells like this the whole day. I disliked the smell but unfortunately I had to take it often, and after so many times I got used to it and now I find it even nice smell.

One of the Japanese pickles is made in rice bran. Since the bran is has to be mixed every day, the smell of rice bran used to be the image of a mother. This is not the case anymore; the contemporary mother finds it too stinky, and my mother does not smell like this either. But I am not against this smell. It's a perfect perfume for you to smell like a mother!

The fragrances are made with the combination of these methods.

• - water distillation with Alihn Cooler
• - water distillation with tower distiller and Dimroth Cooler
• - cold oil pressing method
• - infusing in alcohol
• - infusing in hot water

This work was made for the exhibition Artstore Rotterdam
concept, realization: Maki Ueda
special thanks to: Martina Florians, and my parents in Japan for shipping me the material