When people think of Yosemite National Park; even if they have never been they have images of majestic rocks and waterfalls in their mind. When people think of Japan’s National Parks they have images of? Well, …nothing! But with this issue of Papersky we’re out to change that, because we love Japan’s National Parks and we want more people to be able to appreciate their natural beauty and long cultural histories.
We thought the best place to begin our mission of bringing light and vision to Japan’s National Parks was Kyushu. Home to live volcanoes, towering mountains, a plethora of small islands, bursting of rivers and swelling of fresh water Kyushu is ALIVE!!!! Kyushu’s main island is home to four National Parks: The Saikai National Park (Nagasaki), The Unzen-Amakusa National Park (Kumamoto, Nagasaki), The Aso-Kujyu National Park (Oita, Kamamoto) and the enormous Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park (Miyazaki, Kagoshima).
We loaded up our GORDON MILLER motors van and packed ourselves as well as our guests; handwriting genius Chalkboy and the traveling vegetable man Teppei (Micotoya) and headed off to explore Kyushu’s National Parks. Besides taking stunning photographic images we wanted to figure out ways to really have the essence of each of these parks stick in peoples minds – so that the Kyushu Parks would become captivating visions in peoples minds and hence locations they sought to visit.
Our strategy was as follows. One, take amazing photos of each location; Second have Chalkboy create an original poster or two for each of the locations; Third meet the farmers, fisherman, makers (soy-sauce, miso paste, mustard, jam, sake and more) and work with these folks to create a special sandwich specifically made with ingredients found in the proximity of each National Park.
In total we created five National Park Papersky sandwiches. Each Sandwich offers a mouthwatering bite of flavor and as you nibble & read through this issue we know you’ll be hooked both on the nature, taste, and culture that makes Kyushu and its National Parks ‘A Feast for Your Eyes’!
