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We make and sell kishu binchotan, a special hard kind of charcoal, Kushimoto town, Wakayama prefecture.

I spent a year travelling around Asia and I was drugged and robbed of everything. Spending time without money or nationality, I feel I truly encountered people’s warmth and realised that the things I was so attached to were not really so important. The only thing we really have in this life is our body. I next spent time in Nibutani, Hokkaido, with Ainu activist Yamamichi Yasuko, where I learnt about the natural world, prayer and Ainu culture. After I married and our son was born we moved to Kumano and I started making charcoal. Being present at the birth of our son, his heart surgery, being married, making charcoal, growing rice, surfing, meeting people: these are the events in my life that teach me who I am. Sometimes lost, the natural world around me reminds me that I too am part of this world, and for this I am grateful for every day.