A semi-famous ‘bloke off the telly’ visited Kamiyama probably on some kind of comedy trip to the middle of nowhere.

Everyone was there, just like you imagine they would be.

The first thing I noticed about him was how grey he was.  He seemed desaturated.  He arrived with two other presenters, female, one older one younger (bearing in mind this man could have been in his 40’s…I don’t know; however he looked kind of 65).  It was all in Japanese which isn’t my strong point but it appeared to be the ‘good cop – bad cop routine’.  The females tempered this grumpy, fractious old man as he interviewed people underneath a roasting light mounted on a 40lb camera.  He smoked constantly.  He seemed nervous.  Kevin pointed out his ashtray which was full of half finished cigarettes.

I sat cross-legged at the table featuring the KAIR artists and some other people.  I was dreading the moment when the 40lb roasting light would swing this way and cancerman would direct his attention to me and my wife.  Why did we move here?  Why?  Just try and act jolly Rufus.  Keep smiling.  Keep drinking.  Keep going.  I found myself staring down at the skewered fish on my plate.  That is me, I thought.  That’s how I feel.  I want to be a skewered fish with white eyes and lots of bones.

So the interviews went on, and on.  Eventually he seemed to lose interest and everyone scattered in different directions.  I spotted some excellent drawings by a child.  They were beautiful.  This one reminded me of someone (Harada san).

When the grey man had gone home, people around my table seemed shellshocked.

Well, let’s see how the editing goes.  I might ask to have my face pixellated and my voice altered six pitches lower.  It’s broadcast in October.  Beautiful.