We woke up on the first morning to the beauty of the first blankets of snow at Mt Tanigawa and from there on, the weather flowed smoothly through our collaborations at the UNESCO Biosphere reserve in Minakami, Japan. We embraced the deep rain, low clouds, mist and potent sunshine- perfect to make the persimmon season ‘pop’!
Next year will be the Minakami Biosphere’s tenth anniversary and we look forward to contributing to the festivities (in June), we’ll also be participating in the Nakanojo Biennale (October) as well as collaborating with the Finnish Cultural Institute in Japan and the Royal Norwegian Embassy on events!
Big bear hug to our collaborators: Kitazume, Naoko, Tamura Sensei, Takeharu, Eiji, Azusa, Takeharu Babo and all the resident beings of the town of Tanigawa, team miscu AiR and the Minakami Biosphere Reserve!
We are thrilled to report that all 17 rolls of negatives were superbly successfully developed in Tokyo and we can’t wait to share the seven new portraits next year!
Strangely and a little bit wonderfully, we saw none of the supposedly numerous resident leeches or monkeys during our time in the UNESCO biosphere reserve in Minakami this October/November. We learned about re-neighbouring fireflies, how in the Tanigawa village it used to snow every day- non stop all winter long, how clearcutting can help golden eagles be happy and we listened to some Sibelius while learning about rice farming, trekking guides, avalanche ski cutting and hikers who poop in trail shelters(!)
Our chief of operations Taketo and Kristin from the Miscu Lodge generously let us spread our stuff and ‘treasures’ all over their lodge, gazebo, yard, inbox, snowboard storage and vehicles.
Gentle bows to the Finnish Cultural Institute in Japan, NoFoFo, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Minakami Biosphere Reserve team, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Japan for your sweet support and generosity. Deep tissue gratitude also to the hot, healing waters of the many onsens- thank you for soothing everyone’s mountain muscles after the shoot and prep days. Many more images and videos to peruse here: @eyesasbigasplates
