After this, we also did “Meiga Dokuhon Nihon-hen” (Famous Artwork Reader: Japan Edition) and “Nihon ni aru Sekai no Meiga Nyumon” (Introduction to World Famous Artworks in Japan). So I had the pleasure of editing a total of three books by Akasegawa. The books were published by Kappa Books, and after that released in paperback. Even after I left my role as editor and became a producer, the books are still read by many people today. It’s the greatest thing you could ask for as editor. I learnt a lot from him as an editor, but he also taught me about the various joys of adulthood that were probably wasted on a young twenty year old such as myself. The joy of drinking Japanese sake at a soba house, classic style cameras – all the time I spent chatting with Akasegawa is precious to me. Each time we walked around the city, ate, talked, I discovered something new. Everyone he introduced to me, each and every one of them were fascinating.

On one occasion we were out drinking and this is something he said to me:
“You know, Sakurai-san, all the editors around me are all a bit eccentric. I guess it’s only the eccentrics who will think up projects for me.”
The lovable eccentric. I love people like that, and when I think about it, that’s the kind of people I’m around all the time. They would probably tell me that I’m the most eccentric one of all, and if they ever did, I would gladly report it to Akasegawa straight away. I now work as a producer and an author, but I’m really an editor at heart – an editor who had the pleasure of making a book with Akasegawa Genpei. If there’s anything in my writing or the work I produce that suggests a view point on something that’s a little different, then that’s because of the time I spent with Akasegawa. I don’t currently list it in my job title, but I don’t think I will ever stop considering myself as an editor.

Art for me is a dear hobby and the only time my hobby and my work have overlapped was the time I worked with Akasegawa. But 20 years on, all that changed when I met Ayaka Wada (S/mileage). When I talk with her about art, it’s just the like days when I was with Akasegawa. I had been wanting to one day tell Akasegawa about Ayaka Wada, about the book that she wrote, “Otome no Kaigai Annai” (Maiden’s Guide to Paintings) (PHP Shinsho), and about the column on ukiyo-e paintings that she currently writes for asianbeat, but now it’s too late. Four years ago, when I found out that Ayaka Wada was interested in art, I gave her a copy of “Akasegawa Genpei no Meiga Dokuhon.” I never thought at the time that things would go the way they have, but this was probably the first step to me later becoming the producer of “Otome no Kaiga Annai.”
Thank you, Akasegawa.