To give a sense of purpose to his journey he packs two folding kayaks in his car, all his camping gear and spends six weeks meeting as many Ainu as he can, camps and paddles in the lakes, rivers and along the coastline of this amazing island, certainly the last wilderness left in Japan.

It has been said that a good travel book is one in which the reader will discover new things as he travels with the writer. This is certainly the case. The reader will get a better sense of who the Ainu are through their voices as well as read about a part of Japan seldom written about by Westerners.