<div><p>I am in a place of excellence, peace, and earthiness,&quot; wrote the young American in his journal, &quot;with an unbelievable knowledge of clay.&quot; That place was a heavily wooded mountain valley on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan. The date was August 1975. And the 22-year-old with bright eyes and an easy smile was Richard Bresnahan, a small-town boy from eastern North Dakota.</p><p></p></div>