The Easy Life in Kamusari

Moving at human pace solidifies his connection to the land.

This sense of dark awe is the sort of veneration that Japanese have toward certain forests and natural objects—in short, it’s an animistic primitive religion. Many places have a “forest that shouldn’t be entered.” Even people who are used to working in the mountains feel there is something there. They are suddenly overcome with fear and it becomes

You might think I like it, fishing, after more than ten years’ work with hunting and fishing people—on the contrary. Especially in winter. Waiting for hours in the cold. Telling yourself they will bite, even when nothing is happening at all. Sticking at it, even when nothing goes on happening. Why does no one ever talk about this? I wonder, rebelli

But when it was my turn not to be indifferent, I failed that same test. I was indifferent to the villagers, the local population. I had thought of myself as someone who cares for everything, and cares too much—but in fact I only cared for some things. Other things, I discarded. I didn’t think at all of their struggles for survival, their subsistenc