Nara ended up living in Germany for 12 years. For the first six of these, from 1988 to 1994, he studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, while spending the later six (1994-2000) setting up a studio and working as a professional artist in Cologne. Since he was unable to communicate fluently in German, he again had to resort to using his art as a medium for conveying his meaning. Just as he did when a little boy, he spoke to people through his paintings, at the same time raising his awareness of his own identity and existence. During those years he also began to write a diary, not as some kind of official record, but entirely for the purpose of a dialogue with his inner self. Living in what for him was a rather remote and secluded environment, his sense of loneliness prompted him to start a fresh examination of his childhood years. The solitude he had felt in the wide lands of his native Aomori metamorphosed into the vast spaces of his compositions, into which his protagonists are placed with a delicate sense for contrast, balance, and proportion. In Germany, Nara began to gradually develop his trademark artistic style, with flat, simplified backgrounds and a firm focus on the children or animals that are the usual subjects of his paintings. The artist seems to have oscillated between feelings of isolation and happiness when reflecting on his life, and his youth in particular. At first, sadness and melancholy appear to have dominated his mood, and the rawness of his emotions is clearly mirrored in the looks of his protagonists, especially the expressions in their eyes, which range from challenging and provocative to apathetic, callous, or downright evil.