The author found a book about a man who walked the length of Japan in four months - in a bookshop's cookery section. This anomaly found him in a Hokkaido doorway sheltering from bitter Siberian winds. To add to his discomfort, the message on his hotel kettle came to mind: 'Refresh yourself in the serene air of a table-land, a jolly tea-party with congenial friends.' He has returned many times to Japan to photograph daily life on its four major islands, and many on the Inland Sea.