‘Up near the backside of Kamiyama Onsen, opposite the Nongyo Joruri Theatre and adjacent to the beginning of the Art Walk.  They’re cutting down old sudachi trees.  Go and get some sudachi’ says Buitsu san to us.  He’s standing there with a cheeky face and a sudachi in his hand.

We decide to film there.  It’s a special moment.  It’s a powerful image.  Kamiyama is famous for sudachi, end of an era and all that.  We take the equipment to the site and there are a couple of men chainsawing.  They are almost finished cutting.

Mile is intrigued by the spectacle.  He tells me it will make a strong piece of film.  We watch the man who is the older brother of Kamiyama Mayor slicing up one of the remaining trees.  It makes me think about a new style of tameshigiri 試し斬り.

These trees are old, I’m afraid I don’t know exactly how old though.  If I said 50 years then I’d be telling a fib.

The men obviously take a break and Mile interviews them.

We ask if it’s ok to pick some sudachi, they say go ahead.  We pick.  The branches are spiny and it’s a difficult and painful process.  No wonder they are expensive to buy.  Sudachi everywhere you look and it’s hard to choose what to pick next.  It’s quite an intensive experience and fairly quickly we fill the crates.

Mile dreams of becoming a rich man in Tokyo selling sudachi.

Something takes his interest..

Nani