Shiida is a small town in the Chikujō, Fukuoka Prefecture. I conceived the idea for World-Towns, while photographing people in small towns in Australia and decided that I should put together a number of towns in a collection to demonstrate the similarities of international towns. I was particularly interested in small shops and how they provide the cultural character of a place that makes the mundane into the personal and the sense of place more identifiable. I am concerned about the loss of small shops and also the small towns. They are so important to the identity of the whole place, combined together, as Japan the country.