Around the middle of the year, I got slightly ill, and eventually spent some time in hospital, after which I got to stay at my home in Zushi. Except for some business and a rehabilitation program that I did in Tokyo, I spent most of the days that followed walking in the streets and taking the occasional snapshot in the Shonan area.
But there’s one particular thing about Zushi / Shonan. It is for me a location that necessarily reminds me of Takuma Nakahira. Now that I was staying in Zushi for the first time in years, quite naturally there were various opportunities for me to reminisce about my days with Nakahira, which is already more than 50 years ago. In the evenings, I had plenty of time to read Mitsuzukeru hate ni hi ga…, a collection of Nakahira’s reviews that the publishing company had sent me a copy of quite a while ago, but that I had only briefly glanced through at the time. All kinds of thoughts crossed my mind as I went through the pages, ranging from “You’re absolutely right there, Takuma!” to “What?! Are you serious, Nakahira?” I finished the 500+ pages in a matter of days. The nights I spent reading in Zushi and the greater Shonan area were a time in which I had some nice yet lonely conversations with Takuma Nakahira, whom I unfortunately won’t have a chance to meet again in person.
This issue of Record compiles mainly snapshots that were taken between mid-April and mid-June, when I had to be hospitalized. Right now, I think it’s about time for me to get back to work and my never changing daily routine in Ikebukuro, and elsewhere in Tokyo.
– Afterword by Daido Moriyama
