For this book Kotori Kawashima photographs the actress Machiko Ono in Taiwan and Nara, a monochrome work that marks his step into a new world. Known for capturing boys and girls just before adulthood with his distinctive gaze, here he turns to a single subject and a quieter register. 'When I see Machiko standing before me, I am suddenly filled with a wistful feeling — a loneliness, as if she were utterly alone in the world. It is the same in the streets of Taiwan or deep in the mountains of Nara: something very beautiful. What was I able to leave in the photographs, of the time the two of us shared?'