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Web designer Peter Brune
By JUDIT KAWAGUCHIPeter Brune, 45, is a Web designer and photographer who has beena Japanese resident for 10 years. Born and raised in East Berlin,
Brune was a world traveler even before he set foot outside the wallsof his home: Absorbed in books and glued to the television andradio, he was constantly crossing borders and exploring faraway
corners of the earth, inspired by the stories that flowed freely
between both sides of the Iron Curtain. His virtual trips turned realwhen, in 1987, he flew out of his cocoon of East Berlin andtransformed into a globetrotting photojournalist. In 1997, 10 years
and 60 countries later, he settled in his favorite spot on earth —Japan. Here, Brune established the piichi design office and turned
the computer screen into his canvases. With his sophisticatedpalette, Peter creates works of arts, easily recognizable by their
kakkoii (cool) look and user-friendliness. Luckily, the piichi Web
site aesthetic is spreading, replacing banner-infested messy sites
with stylish, uncluttered pages, one after the other.
Good manners are themost important thing inthe world. That's what's sogreat about Japan! TheJapanese say little but meana lot. They never want tobother anyone and always
put others first.
To see the real picture,
always look for the details.
When you encounter Tokyo,
you think it is chaotic —endless concrete mushrooms
on top of each other. But
once you see one tiny
mushroom locally, it is solovely. You look at a small
house with a grandma and a
cat and some little flowers; Web designer Peter Brune JUDIT KAWAGUCHI PHOTOit is idyllic, peaceful and that's Tokyo for me. I see the macroview
as a photographer, but I rest my eyes on the microcosmos.

Optimize yourself, your life and your actions. Whatever I am, it'son the sites I design. "Yatte-miru" is the keyword: Give it a try! My
job is to encode one's essence.
To think positively, we need lovely stories and happy endings.
Every morning I watch NHK TV's "Ohayo Nippon" ("GoodMorning, Japan") or NHK's national news program. They show
human-interest stories, like some cute ojiichan (grandpa) growing
pumpkins. Everyone's working and feeling good. It's all about world
peace. Not only is the content happy but the aesthetic is also very
similar to what I used to see in my childhood days.
A Web site is like a meishi (business card): You spend money
making it, yet nobody pays you for it.
Getting sick, to the point of almost dying, is sometimes
necessary to save us from ourselves. Before I fell sick, I couldn't
say no to anything. I was like a typical Japanese person, always
thinking of others and accepting any amount of work, even withimpossible deadlines. I was taking painkillers for my stomach foryears, until one day I almost bled to death from holes in my belly!
Almost dying made me realize that I was killing myself. Now I'mmuch better with my time-management.
The days when Web sites made a profit are over. Web sites
should not contain ads, as they're not tools for moneymaking but
spaces for the free flow of information. "Free" is the keyword.
East Germany was an island nation, just like Japan. Inside it wewere safe; if we accepted not to talk about politics. We all got freemilk and a free education, same as in Japan.
If you move to a new country, it's your responsibility toovercome the language barrier. In 1997, when I was 33, I studied
Japanese for two years because I wanted to live here.
In Japan, short answers go a long way. Here minimalism incommunication matters: "Yes, yes," it's enough to repeat that oneword.
The emancipation of women freed them to work even more thantheir mothers used to : Not only do they have to labor at home but
outside, too. In the past, German women's role was limited to kinder(kids), kirche (church) and küche (kitchen). Socialism changed allthat by adding arbeit (work) to it. My mom was brainwashed by thestate propagandist message that women didn't need a husband andchildren didn't need a father. That meant I was alone all the time, as
my mom worked 12 hours a day at her job. I was free but she wasworking like a slave.

Living alone doesn't mean I feel alone . I chat. I e-mail, I Skype. I
have friends all over the world via the Net.
If you live in Japan long enough, it's easy to "turn Japanese." Ibehave like a Japanese, even when I speak other languages. "Excuseme, may I disturb you?" I ask in German. It's weird, as Germans
would never ask that. I feel Japanese. I'm surprised when I see myface in the mirror. It's good; that's integration.
Not being stupid is a present from God. I have that, thanks toGod. Everything was so easy for me.
Once you find a spot that's really comfortable, why change
places? Nothing can make me move from Japan, not even thefrequent earthquakes. A bit of a shake here and there is fun. Whenthe earth shakes, shake with it. It's so moving.
Japanese business style is classy and fun. With clients, we don't
talk much about work. With one, the first time we met, we justchatted; the second time, we drank beer, ate sausages, and said,"Let's do it!" We had no contract and the price was a ballpark
estimate from me. Japanese are all about trust and quality.
For most Japanese, the concept of overtime is abnormal. Thinkof a grandma and grandpa a long time ago, working all day andnever complaining. Japanese are still like that and this is why wehave superior products and services here. The majority of Japanesebusinesses are small family operations, with shokunin (craftspeople),
who work in their own world, and not for profit, but for quality.
They are very satisfied as they take pride in making super-good
quality products.
One can feel at home in a very foreign place. I don't feel like aforeigner in Japan. Everything is natsukashii (brings back goodmemories) because what I see in Japan is something already lost in
East Germany. I feel reborn here in Japan.
Judit Kawaguchi loves to listen. She is a volunteer counselor and a
TV reporter on NHK's "Out & About." Learn more at:
http://juditfan.blog58.fc2.com/
The Japan Times: Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009
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