May be I'm missing something but all I read was this writer met an painter few times. What did they discussed? what were his stories? what the author learned mo

May be I'm missing something but all I read was this writer met an painter few times. What did they discussed? what were his stories? what the author learned more about Japan? There doesn't seem to be hint of those. Feels like I wasted my time reading the whole thing through in anticipation author would say something about the mysteries behind the mysterious stranger he was talking about.