Inside Felix Conran’s Japan forest home

To reach Higashiyoshino, in Nara Prefecture, one must travel more than four hours by bullet train from Tokyo. The surrounding countryside is deep in cedar and cypress trees; 96 per cent of the land is forest, in which bears and antelopes still roam freely through the vegetation, and the small population of 1,322 villagers live in dwellings between the trees. It’s here, in this remote outpost, that the British product designer Felix Conran and his partner Emily Smith settled last year,…