It began with Japanese honeybees
For the monk, giant hornets were first a question of beekeeping: understanding the animals that threatened his honeybee colonies. That experience helped shape his involvement in Animal Planet’s Killer Hornets from Hell, filmed in 2014 and released in 2015.
Learning with Susumu Tokunaga
His field education includes learning from Susumu Tokunaga (徳永進), the beekeeper and hornet specialist based in Uchiko, Ehime, and working together on filming projects. Tokunaga’s own apiary archive records his hornet and honeybee work for Japanese television, including The! Tetsuwan! DASH!!.
Over a decade behind the sequences
Documentary work has taken Michael from his beekeeping beginnings into hornet consultancy, location planning, filming support and production coordination. His selected work includes Animal Planet, Smithsonian Channel and National Geographic’s Secrets of the Bees.
He is based in Fukui and maintains long-standing field relationships in rural Ehime. For a visiting crew, those relationships and accumulated field experience are part of planning a practical shoot in Japan.
The people behind the camera matter too
Michael reports that no member of his filming team has been stung during the hornet shoots he has led. Crew requirements and safety planning belong in the production conversation from the beginning.
Plan your shoot with the monk ↗