April 15th,
Today is the anniversary of Hiroshi Morinaga's death.
From the late 1970s to the early 80s, I bought antiques in Bali with my friends and designed clothes made of local fabrics and sold them in Japan. Of course, I used to visit Bali many times a year. And when the antiques and clothes I got were sold and a lot of money came in, I went on a trip again. The destination was definitely an island. It was nice to be warm and anywhere as long as there were waves, but at that time, Bali had all of them. In Tokyo, the "Hollywood Lunch Market" handled it, and in Osaka, when I took it to a shop I knew called "Lahaina" in the era when the American village was very popular, they bought it in cash on the spot.
From his 20s to his early 30s, he continued to live such a great life for a while. I haven't thought about taking pictures in earnest yet.
The town of Denpasar in 1979
The turning point came when I met the editor who happened to be in Bali.
Unfortunately, the editor "Hiroshi Morinaga" passed away in 2025.
At that time, I had my own brand clothes made in Bali modeled by local cute girls and took pictures for advertising. At that time, "McKenzie" (we called him that) came to Bali for a job in a magazine called "Popeye". It seems that the photographer I was accompanying went to New York for work, and he was going to take a picture and make an article by himself, but it was better to have a photographer, so he asked me. At that time, we both forgot that we had worked together a long time ago.
Our brand "ADUH". " Adder! = Words that come out of my mouth when I'm surprised by "what the hell" in Bali
当時のクタビーチ周辺はまだ電気が通ってないところが多かったし、日本人観光客はサヌールがほとんどで、クタビーチにはあまりいなかったからすぐに会えたんだろう。確かその時、「君はカメラマンなんだってね、ローカルの人にカメラ持った日本人が居るって聞いて探して来たんだよ、今度雑誌の『ポパイ』でバリ特集やるから、写真を撮ってくれないかな？」って言われたんだ。会ったばかりの人間にいきなり雑誌の写真を担当させるなんて、マッケンジー的な直感が働いたんだと思う。それに僕達の作っていた服はバリではお祭りや飾りに使うラメ入りの生地を使ったボタンダウンのフロントジップみたいなデザインだったから、当時としてはかなりパンク的な感じで、感覚的にも彼なりに共感出来たんだろう。それで写真を撮るかわりに僕達の服を誌面に載せてもらうと言う条件で取材を始めたんだ。
I coordinated a lame shirt with an antique belt
Front zip & button-down shirt using batic fabric
When I was about to go out for an interview, I suddenly said, "Let's go to a magic mushroom shop for an interview!" That's what I say. If you put it on Popeye, it's better to stop because it will be ridiculous for young people who don't understand eating mushrooms," he said, but he was serious. Cassette tapes are in the heyday of the era. There were all kinds of pirated copy tape stores in Kuta, so Mackenzie, who loved Rolling Stones, immediately bought some. I remember getting Bob Marley's tape and taking a picture for the magazine. I was really happy when the magazine was released and the photo of the model wearing our clothes was used on the opening page.
I made my debut with photos of Inamuragasaki, but it was a surfing magazine, so this was my first job to debut in a general magazine.
After the book came out, I still remember what Mackenzie said to me.
"Tai-chan, an acquaintance of mine runs a great shop in Harajuku, and I'm sure he likes Tai-chan's clothes and will definitely buy them, so I'll take an order!" That. However, at that time, I was mainly working with Mr. Tarumi of the lunch market, so I politely refused the offer. As I found out later, the person who was running a shop in Harajuku was Masayuki Yamazaki, the protagonist of the novel "Harajuku Gold Rush" written by Mackenzie. Speaking of "Cream Soda" and "Pink Dragon" he worked on, it is no exaggeration to say that they are shops that create views of Harajuku in the 70s and 80s.
Anyway, meeting people always brings magic.
Before I knew it, I was in charge of serialization in specialized magazines as a surfing photographer, in charge of magazine covers and opening pages, shooting advertisements and working on magazine houses, and somehow I felt that I was a photographer. I didn't, but I don't think I was uncomfortable with work. However, I've never thought about an office in Tokyo because it's still a wave-centered world. At that time, Mackenzie contacted me again and said, "Tai-chan, do you want to go to the island?" That's What I Say. Where? When I asked, "This time, it's a special feature on the island in the magazine "Brutus". Tai-chan, you like the island, let's go together! That's the story. Of course, I was OK with two replies.
So, again, "Which island?" When I asked, "It's the Philippines! Other editors are Hawaii and resorts, but we're not like that. I think there are many places in the Philippines that are more unknown and exciting," a very Mackenzie-like answer came back.
I think I've interviewed a lot of editors so far, but only Mackenzie was special. After all, he is only interested in things that are different from others. I tried to write an article about a snow lotus that only blooms in the high mountains of the Himalayas at work of a magazine, but I almost died of altitude sickness. Not only as an editor, but also as a personality for fashion advertising and FM radio "Sound Street" and editor-in-chief of music-related magazines, he was famous in the industry. The music event he worked on is still a story.
There is no end to "SNEKEMAN SHOW Nuclear Shelter Book" and the video production of "Happy Ending" at that time, the interaction with Shigeru Izumiya and Tom Waits, and from Takuro Yoshida to Eikichi Yazawa. He was a multi-talented owner.
Sure enough, as soon as I arrived at Samboanga, the westernmost tip of Mindanao Island, where anti-government guerrillas were based in the Philippines, close to Borneo, I suddenly said, "Let's interview guerrillas!" I said that, so I desperately stopped, saying, "If we become hostages, it will be a big deal, so let's stop." In fact, there was an incident where Japanese people were kidnapped by guerrillas and demanded ransom from the Japanese government. Well, I'm not surprised because it's the usual Mackenzie, but as expected, I thought it was dangerous at that time.
Filming with government militias against guerrillas. I was forced to put a Colt 45 into my jeans
Even so, the only thing that I was able to go to Palawan Island, which no one looked at at the time, is really the best memory now. I don't know where I looked it up, "There is a cave connected to the sea on this island, and pirates used to be...", but in fact there was a cave there, and when I sneaked into it by canoe, the rock skin illuminated by the lamp was 100 years. I was really surprised that the signature left by someone from before, Mackenzie, was engraved with the year number. But what was even more surprising was that a horde of bats was stuck all over the wall. I was hit by the smell of their shit and ran away from the cave early.
Hiroshi Morinaga in the back
For the time being, I hired a local person from Manila as a guide, but he put on a shirt he brought from Japan and took pictures at a rural market like a fashion page, and the interview job was his own. I don't know what it's going on. But every time I look at the finished article, it's certainly something different, so I always thought that's what it was.
The Aloha brought by Hiroshi Morinaga was perfect for this place.
I sometimes shoot like that, but the important thing is the atmosphere of the scene and the mood of the scene. Anyway, working with Mackenzie was really fun.
The way the cityscape of Samboanga, which retains a strong shadow of the Spanish colonial era in the 1600s, was dyed by the twilight sun, was more fantastic than he had ever seen before, as Mackenzie also wrote in the article. I imagined that a long time ago, those who lived in this city would have stood in this sunset just like me and left themselves to the flow of the times. After that, I couldn't forget that scenery, and I visited again with my girlfriend with a surfboard, which is a nostalgic memory now.
After a while, "Tai-chan! Let's go cover Tanegashima's rocket! It was the work of the in-flight magazine he serialized that contacted me. Perhaps at that time, there was already a picture in his head of my fellow wave riders riding the waves at the moment of the rocket launch.
At the moment when the rocket jumped out, several surfers were surfing in front of it. That photo is still one of my favorite works. I look back again that it was also thanks to Mackenzie.
When we finally entered the island, the interview team of each company had special seats for shooting. We declined the grateful invitation and immediately went on location. There are limited places on the island where the moment of rocket launch and the sea where you can surf at the same time can be delivered to the viewfinder. We searched several places and finally found a point that we thought was here and contacted our surfing friends on the island.
At that time, the rocket launch was exciting as an event, so many other reporters came. But as a headquarters, I don't think I could have imagined that it would be an interview like this as a result. I didn't tell the headquarters about the "wave riding", and I got permission to take pictures outside the radius that was designated as a ban on intrusion, and I was given a dedicated phone to contact dozens of seconds before the launch, and we finally launched in a place with a good view. I was waiting for the time. McKenzie felt like his turn was over, but I said, "I wonder if anyone can take off at the moment of the rocket launch?" I was so nervous. It's impossible to reshoot. Anyway, I have no choice but to leave my luck to heaven and wait.
When I got in touch and the countdown to the launch finally began, I didn't think about anything anymore and did nothing, just focused on the scenery in the viewfinder, and the rocket jumped out with a roar in no time. At that time, he must have seen someone riding the waves in the viewfinder, but since it was film, there was no way to confirm until I tried to develop it. I was worried about whether I could really take a picture. It was a matter of course in the era of film, but I felt that way like every time. For Mackenzie, he must have been questioned that the Japanese mass media at the time would report the moment of the rocket launch all at once with similar photos. I think I was able to take this photo because I felt the same way about the importance of capturing it from a different perspective.
Actually, I completely forgot about the scene we met for the first time in his book "What I dreamed of when I was walking around that alley" that Mackenzie sent me in 2015. It was written there that we were still in our 20s and worked together as models in a commercial. I somehow remembered it, but I didn't even remember who the people who were with me were. To be honest, I completely forgot about it. If I hadn't met you in Bali at that time, I think there might not have been a debut of a major magazine or a photo of Rocket, but I can meet people who can still meet over time. I think that's the real encounter.
At that time, the scenery I saw with Hiroshi Morinaga in a place like the end of the world is a special memory that will never fade for me, and it is Mackenzie himself.
There was also a story about our meeting in <Hiroshi Morinaga's official site>
http://www.morinaga-hiroshi.com/profile/profile107.html
A postscript
As for the encounter in Bali in <Hiroshi Morinaga's official site>, it may be a memory error, but I wonder if it's a bit of fiction. At the beginning in Bali, Kenji Miura, a photographer who was with Mackenzie, went to New York, and there was no photographer to take pictures of Popeye's Bali special feature, so I heard that there was a Japanese photographer and came to see him. It was. At that time, there were few Japanese people, so I knew right away who was where. That's why I ended up interviewing Bali at that time with Mackenzie. At that time, the magazine house had a lot of interview fees, so you could do whatever you want, and you were so free that you can't think of it now. I was able to interview interestingly, and I was a friend who shared the best era. Thanks to him, it will be connected to the Hawaii special feature later.
It's a pity and sad to pass away so soon, but now only happy memories remain.
I took a good picture of him... I searched a lot, but I couldn't find it..
2026/4/15
