Field notes 01 Tokushima, Japan

Hello,wild!

Walking slowly, looking closely, and making friends with the tiny lives just outside the door.

Japanese honeybees gathering at the entrance of a wooden hive — Japanese honeybees,
busy at home.

Words + photographs
by Sosuke Sato

WALK SLOWLY✦LOOK CLOSER✿BE CURIOUS→LEAVE IT WILD☺

A note from Ske

Wildness is
everywhere.

I walk, I watch, and I photograph the living things around me — because you only protect what you have taken the time to know.

Most meetings happen close to home, in places we usually hurry past: a hornet on the asphalt, a skink in a concrete channel, a butterfly beside the road.

— Ske ☺

Walk

On foot, slowly,
close to home.

Watch

Patience first.
Camera second.

Protect

Know a place.
Then speak for it.

The local crew

Meet my
neighbours.

Six lives met on foot. No studio, no staging — just a little patience and the luck of being there.

Asian giant hornet

Vespa mandarinia · オオスズメバチ

The largest hornet in the world. Best admired from a respectful distance.

BIG
BUZZ

Small copper

Lycaena phlaeas · ベニシジミ

A tiny flash of orange around grassy edges and open ground.

Japanese skink

Plestiodon japonicus · ニホントカゲ

Found only in Japan. Young skinks wear an electric-blue tail.

ONLY
IN JAPAN!

Tiger keelback

Rhabdophis tigrinus · ヤマカガシ

A frog-eating snake. Calm if left alone — so let’s leave it alone.

Giant centipede

Scolopendra mutilans · トビズムカデ

A night hunter of insects and other small animals. Give those many feet plenty of room.

NIGHT
SHIFT

Oriental hornet

Vespa orientalis · オリエントスズメバチ

A warm-region hornet, photographed here sharing a meal with a fly.

Japanese honeybees clustered on comb inside a hive

Inside the hive
↳ very, very busy

Project in progress

A tiny device
for a big family.

I’m developing a device that sends the health of a Japanese honeybee colony straight to a smartphone — helping beekeepers check in more safely.

Hivethousands of bees

Phonea calmer check-in

Japanese honeybees at the entrance of a wooden hive — Apis cerana japonica
ニホンミツバチ

Thousands of small lives,
working as one.

Follow the project

Pocket-size ethics

Five promises
for the field.

Keep these close the next time you step outside.

01Keep your distance.
02Take only photographs.
03Leave every place as you found it.
04Keep sensitive locations to yourself.
05Look longer than you shoot.

Don’t be a stranger

Stay curious.
Stay in touch.

Follow alongnotes from the field