With a 30-room house sitting amid 12 hectares in northern England, artist-activist Scott Baron lives up to his name. Now his signature custom-made black fedora has gone missing, and he has to make one last trip to Kiba, in Tokyo, before leaving Japan. "It's in station lost property, rather the worse for wear. It got run over by trains after blowing away."
Scott has been in Japan for 10 weeks, spreading the word (mostly at his own expense but with assistance from Japan Airlines and the Warrington Primary Healthcare NHS Trust Care) about his U.K.-based initiative "Hands Across The Water."
As he explains: "It's an arts for health and well-being project. It promotes social inclusion through creative activities, linking children, the sick and disabled, elderly, homeless and any other group that tends to be excluded from the mainstream. The aim is that these initial links turn into mutually supportive friendships and exchanges."