My current client, for which I'm redesigning a website, printed out your piece on Choosing A Color Scheme. Good work. One question though: Where did you hear that in Japan, white symbolizes sorrow? I lived in Japan for six years and must have missed this. I attended funerals and everyone wore black just as in the West. I was married in a traditional Shinto ceremony and my wife's wedding kimono was most definitely white.

According to Roger Axtell, the author of Do's and Taboos of Hosting International Visitors, Copyright © 1990, white is used at Japanese funerals as a symbolic representation of hope, and white chrysanthemums are the flower of death in Japan. In Google I found many web pages corroborating the above. I did, however, note that red and white together is commonly found at Japanese weddings as those colors together are widely regarded as appropriate for happy and pleasant occasions.

For more information about the multi-cultural aspects of color, visit Color Voodoo.