One day in April

I happen to be increasingly involved in food-related publications this year. At the moment I'm in the middle of editing four different books dealing with food, three of which specialize on organic food in a broad sense. Although organic food has been experiencing a worldwide boom in recent years, the rate of organic food on the Japanese market is still only one percent! In other words, 99% of what we're eating every day is full of chemical fertilizers and agrichemicals.

On "ecocolo" magazine’s "Vege Book" series produced by vegan food specialist Cafe Eight (published by Little More), for example, I'm in fact working partly for personal interest. Considering my own "pseudo-macrobiotic" diet that includes small amounts of meat and other non-vegetarian product, it happens quite often recently that I think about books I'd like to make and people I'd like to write about, so quite naturally I'm getting involved in more and more food-related publications. Many of those experts that I've met have such unique views and life philosophies that talking to them is usually much more beneficial than interviewing musicians and fashion designers, which is why I'm really eager to work with such individuals.

Photographer Hagane Kazuyasu at work

Anyway, in my work at the junction between personal interest and profession, right now we're in the middle of photo shootings for a book on food that will go on sale in July.

The idea is to make a series of colorful and playful photos of all kinds of organic food, taken by the master of still life, Hagane Kazuyasu. With much finesse and love he arranges radishes, tomatoes, carrots, beef, tofu and others into artful little installations, cutting, slicing, roasting or melting his odd group of top models. For myself, these are days of plain gluttony, as every piece of food turns into a snack as soon as it’s photographed, and what I can't eat in the studio, I take home for a late-night reserve. Eating is a fun pastime, but it’s also quite a scary habit.

April 30

Talk at "Kaze to Rock Bar". From left: Yanai-san, myself, Goto-san

I'm doing a round-table talk about magazines with editor Goto Shigeo and creative director Yanai Michihiko for a special edition of the weekly fashion magazine "WWD for Japan" (out on May 26). I worked with Goto several times, and he is also featured in my book "The Edit of Tokyo". Yanai used to contribute regularly to "Composite" magazine, so he’s kind of an old friend as well. However, this is in fact the first time all of us meet for a three-way conversation, so I've really been looking forward to this event.

It takes place at the "Kaze to Rock Bar" that Yanai opened for a limited time on the seventh floor of Shibuya Parco Part 1. Basically a conversation for a magazine feature, it’s a rather unusual one, as we talk in front of an audience. For Yanai, this is only one in a string of discussions he’s doing here every day and night these days, and our conversation is the second on his schedule for today. This man lives fast!

Each of us talks about his own experiences with working in the publishing business, after which we exchange some thoughts on the philosophy of interviews, interesting current magazines, the value, and the future of magazines. The two+ hours of our conversation include quite a few rather surprising remarks, such as Goto’s praise of the way the women’s magazine "ViVi" is crammed with information, and excessive blogger Yanai’s claim that he'd be happy if the Internet disappeared.

You can read more about this (in Japanese) in "WWD". Personally, I found the discussion revolving around the present role of the editor the most exciting. Goto and myself are basically editors who are also involved in the direction and planning of exhibitions and online projects, while Yanai is primarily directing advertisements, but also edits, writes, and does other creative work for magazines, which is in my view a perfect example of the contemporary editor. The talk session is an occasion that makes me realize again that it would be wonderful to play a part in such dynamic work that is totally different from that of editors in big publishing companies.