Name: Stephen Gill (haiku name: Tito)

Nationality: British

Occupation: Haiku poet, university lecturer, ike'ishi (stone arrangement) artist, environmental activist, radio scriptwriter

Likes: Stones, poems, journeys, clouds, people's innate twinkle

Dislikes: Apathy, political deceit, nuclear power, menma (bamboo condiment) in ramen

1. What first brought you to Japan? The Trans-Siberian Railway, after reading (haiku poet Matsuo) Basho's classic "Narrow Road to the Deep North," which had inspired me to save up and pack my bags.

2. What's keeping you here? My wife, the faces of my students, the Hailstone Haiku Circle, Mount Ogura (Kyoto), ike'ishi.

3. Name the person you most admire in Japan. My wife (Kazue), Nobuyuki Yuasa (who translated Matsuo Basho's work) and Okiharu Maeda (who, once I'd alerted the city of Kyoto to the environmental problems on Mount Ogura, immediately moved to action with an NPO; we work happily together with other volunteers at www.ptogaura.org).

4. Where do you go to escape Kyoto? When we need a rest and revitalization, Kumihama in Tango (Kyoto Prefecture) for its sea, lagoon, sacred mountain, hot spring, ancient legends, friendly people, seafood and slow pace of life.

5. What's your favorite Japanese word or phrase? Shiyō zo/yo! ("Let's do it!"), as opposed to shōganai! ("It can't be helped!")

6. What's your favorite phrase in any language? "A rolling stone gathers no moss." The shapes of the stones I use in my ike'ishi art are formed by elemental movement. I never work them with any tools. Also, after many long travels in earlier days, my heart still feels nomadic.

7. Describe your most embarrassing moment. Too long a story really, but it involved a snowy gangplank at night between houseboats on the River Thames carrying a full bucket from a nonflush toilet. I ended up waist-deep in mud, snow and feces, with my future spouse waiting obliviously for me to serve her dinner inside the cosy cabin a long way above! The best things in life begin unpromisingly.

8. What's the most exciting/outrageous thing you have ever done? Hiking barefoot without a permit in Nepal.

9. What's the strangest request you've ever been asked in your line of work? To teach Islam at university — and, for one whole semester, I did!

10. If you could share a bottle of wine with anyone from history, who would it be? Eve, to ask what it was like before "the Fall."

11. What song best describes your work ethic? "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. The students I teach at university are not in their own element, but they're having fun while going somewhere.

12. How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator? Take a photo.

13. Name three uses of a stapler without staples. A neck cooler in summer; a shoehorn; a nutcracker. Did I pass?

14. What superhero would you most like to be? Hanuman, the monkey god from the Hindu "Ramayana" epic. He's able to carry a whole Himalayan mountain — snow, summer flowers and all — back with him.

15. What do you think about while standing on the train? Questions from The Japan Times. Or I wonder why everyone else is peering into their smartphone?

16. If you won ¥1 million in the lottery, what would you do with the money? Treat every volunteer who ever comes to Mount Ogura with a cornet/cone full of green matcha ice-cream topped with a yatsuhashi cinnamon wafer (a Kyoto speciality).

17. Tell us a quick joke. "Abenomics."

18. Who would win a fight between a lion and tiger? The tiger. It's used to killing alone.

19. What do you want to be when you grow up? A child again.

20. Do you have any words of advice for young people? Don't believe everything you hear or read. Think for yourself!