The sky in Finland appears very low and wide due to the high latitude. Shades of pale pink and orange mingle and produce gradations overhead, and the light has a soft and gentle quality. Under this sky, islands of various sizes form an archipelago on which seagulls rest their wings when tired of flying. On these islands stand charming cafe´s, churches, and saunas. Perhaps because it is an inland sea, the water is very calm, and on days without wind it is like a mirror. For some reason, this scenery reminded me of drift ice in the distant Sea of Okhotsk off Shiretoko in northern Japan. Perhaps it was because the archipelago before me looked similar to slabs of drift ice floating in the Sea of Okhotsk, though of course there are no cafe´s or saunas on the drift ice. However, I could sense faint traces of people’s lives on rocky islands in the Finnish sea, which reminded me of the lives of people in Shiretoko in the days before the ice was affected by global warming. In the past, people used to walk over the drift ice, build bonfires, feast, and romp. The scenery of Finland and the scenery of the Sea of Okhotsk were vaguely superimposed in my mind, and a mental image of a new landscape began to emerge. This process was like a very personal game of free-association.