Illustrated Diaries Chronicle 56 Years of Life in Japan
“Nanikore” finds a man in Aomori prefecture who has been keeping illustrated diaries for the last 56 years:
Shouzou Takenami started his diary in 1955, originally focusing much of his attention on the silly antics of his children. He’s kept up the diaries ever since, and now there are so many volumes that he has to store them by the box load.
One can also observe the postwar economic development of Japan in his diaries. For example here is an entry from 1957, showing Takenami and a crowd of people visiting a radio store and watching television for the first time:
And here’s one from 1960, when his house finally got running water:
Takenami also made an entry to mark the day that he was filmed for this TV program:
Takenami was 92-years-old when the camera crew visited his home in 2010. He says that writing daily dairy entries helps keep his mind sharp.
The diaries are beautifully drawn. I hope that Takenami and his family are doing their best to preserve such a treasure. It would be awesome if somebody scanned them and put the diary entries into a website or book…
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