In English, we don't really have any words that properly capture the meaning of the Japanese word, nastukashii. It implies a sense of wistful loss, of desire for something missed, of a fond memory evoked by an object, smell or taste, even a thought. It conjures a joy and gratitude for a past experience. The closest we might come to it in English is nostalgia, but even that is not quite right. The Japanese have a strong attachment to the natural world, to the idea of the bespoke, practices handed down, old ways of arranging. Never mind the hi-tech, these ingrained aspects of culture are everywhere.

Cultures that have a deepness may well tend to evoke a sense of nastukashii in a different way than Western societies might if they could. Nostalgia has a sense of sadness within it, a momentary grieving at what has passed and cannot be recaptured. For the Japanese, there is less regret than a luminous gratitude for the experience that once occurred, not a hankering for it to come again. It may be that the Buddhism that is common to many countries in East and South-East Asia has much to do with this - the moment comes and goes - there is no rush into the future.

We all have warm memories that we are thankful for. A few years ago I passed a pungent-smelling bush that instantly transported me back to my boyhood. My mother was guiding my 6 year old self along a footpath in Rose Bay. Our destination was the dentist and I was due for a checkup. Dentists don't normally evoke joyful memories but on these occasions (for surely they must have run into each other in the mind) the day was warm and sunny, the dentist Mrs McQueen, friendly, and afterwards, there would be a visit to the pie shop to fetch something delicious for dinner. Nastukashii.