Nobuko had wanted to carry on with her calligraphy,something she enjoyed doing, with no set style ororganisational constraints and the two of us werelooking forward to embarking on new activities whenI retired in March 2012, but at the end of December2010 the prospect we faced was hard to accept. Themajor operation she had early in the following yearwas the first of her stays in hospital and thesewere repeated every three months or so. But Nobukodid not complain of the uncertainty or discomforther life had taken on but instead gave even more ofherself to me and to our daughter and son-in-law wholived in Tokyo. In this added period of her life wetook several trips connected with Bird and myexhibitions. Nobuko's feelings at the time areexpressed in her essays, published in Part III ofthis book.

The exhibition ‘Group “Wonder” – Strange World 2014’she held with two friends who had the same illnessbut different interests from hers was low-key but itserved as the showcase for the new direction herappreciation of calligraphy was moving in. Thepleasure she got from this first step to achievingher ambition was also the motivation for presentingthe photography book In theFootsteps of Isabella Bird: Adventures in TwinTime Travel I had just completed to thankthe people and organisations in Scotland and Englandwho had helped me.

The last photograph in this section (p.109 in Part I)features Nobuko standing in front of one of herworks in Sawasaka-san's group ‘Sakura’ Exhibition2015: it was taken three weeks before what was to beher last hospitalisation. If Nobuko had notexhibited at the second ‘Sakura Exhibition’ in 2013at Sawasaka-san's invitation, not only would the‘Group Wonder Exhibition 2014’ not have materialisedbut neither would she have taken up calligraphyagain on her own account. No matter how hard thingswere for her Nobuko never stopped smiling and thebroad smile on her face in this picture is typicalof her, just as much as her character shows throughin the piece itself. These two personal elements inthe picture resonate deeply and it will always bedear to me.