Without knowing exactly how to get there, we walked towards the source of the Tamagawa. The river flows out into Tokyo Bay, very close to Haneda airport, so this was where we began. Planes were leaving for Seoul, Singapore, Okinawa. Places you can’t walk to.

We walked for 40 kilometers over two days and it was strange and grueling. The Tamagawa runs for almost 140km, a quarter of which is through built up residential and urban areas of Tokyo. We wanted to walk out of the city by foot, rejecting trains and cars. The paths begin wide; made from concrete, flanked by long stretches of playing fields, overgrown bush, gated homeless communities. Since it was a sunday the paths and fields were filled with people – cyclists covered in full body lycra and sweat, homeless men using remote controlled helicopters, women playing lacrosse. One moment is especially clear: late afternoon, long shadows under bridges, overgrown concrete terrace on the left with a saxaphonist playing jazz standards, many lazy walkers and bike riders; odd constellations of people (four identical baseball players on shopping bikes). Behind us were two railway bridges, at that moment one supported a commuter train, and behind it a Shinkansen traveling in the opposite direction. An overly tanned topless man in a nearby playing field began to stretch and shake – a bad dance. Perhaps, enraged by the heat and confusion, someone might start shouting, or stab a strolling passerby.

The next day we woke at 5am and were covered in sweat by 7am (over 100 people would die in Japan from the heat on this same day). Around 11am we reached the end of the concrete path. Sweat ran down our foreheads and our eyes burned from the salty water. Constant wiping. Useless. At the end of the path we thrashed through bush. Cut elbows and forearms. Five foot high grass. Ten foot high grass. Disappearing path. Then Mark saw the snake and i jumped into the river. Photo above of myself in the river, after walking up it for an hour or so, asking locals about how far above my head the water would be if i wanted to cross to the other side. Photo taken by Mark Drew, and you can see the rest of his photos HERE. Mark moved to Tokyo earlier this year from Sydney where he was a co-founder of the China Heights gallery.