The Secret Shapes of Joy and Sorrow

Trees can look happy or sad

Even watches can,

which is why you will almost always see watches advertised with the time set at ten past ten, or ten to two.

In the trade it is called the ‘happy time’. And it sells more watches

than the ill-humoured twenty past eight.

Haruzo Ohashi A Japanese Touch for your Garden Kodansha 1980

Even Japanese stone lanterns can look cheerful or depressed.

And people?

And all one needs is the tiniest visual clue…