Last year, I took part in a project called Exploring Life with Forests: Film Caravan Project (which is kind of long-winded but I guess it works).  As the British element of the project I had to stubbornly insist that Branston Pickle was tasty and that British people always wear top hats and carry umbrellas.  We three kings (Miles Nagaoko, Radio Taigo and I, Curry Ru) travelled to Nagano prefecture on a 6 day excursion to help make a film about people’s relationship with forests. It began in a business hotel and a room with flowers and pornography and free toothbrushes and black camera equipment and in the early morning I went for a saunter and got a feel for the place.  I stood on a vast plain beset by looming great mountains – the Japanese Alps.  I looked at the sky and saw a flat sheets of grey cream cake and droplets of fragile opaque liquid stippled my face – yes, it was raining.

We made ourselves look pretty and then we had to meet some important people.  I ate horse sashimi but thats all I can remember because it was a while back now, almost a year in fact.

Feeling dreamy.

Feeling squeamy.

I saw some tyres.  They were wet and black.  They were underneath trees.  They looked like black, wet tyres, underneath trees.  Very nice.

I have some more photographs kicking around somewhere and I’ll find them.  Anyway, the next day we met the sub-mayor of the region and he had fascinating facial expressions.  He seemed incredibly uncomfortable in his suit sitting on a towel on a wet bench with clouds drifting.

Here’s a waterfall we shot near an inkstone mine.  Both sections didn’t make it into the film.

I’ll find the rest of the images…soon.