Go Yoshida, talent book collector, sneaks into the “Magic Cave of 10,000 Books”!

 

Yoshida By the time I was in the eighth grade, I had quite a collection. But I gave them all away to friends or threw them away. I was always poking holes in my collection. I thought I had to go for something that people would never collect.

I thought, “I have to go for things that people don’t collect.

I was going to ask you if you started collecting books for work or if you just liked collecting books.

Yoshida Yes, I’ve been going to used bookstores since I was in elementary school, and when I was in high school, I started going to used disc stores.

So you started going to used bookstores after you became interested in punk?

Yoshida That’s right. That’s just the way it’s been for a long time. That’s when I started this job.

Yoshida You started your career in editing and production, didn’t you?

Yoshida When you were a paperboy, you started out as an errand boy, didn’t you? I would go to pick up manuscripts and deliver materials. I would always stop by for 30 minutes to an hour to buy things.

It was a time when there were many used bookstores and used vinyl record stores.

Yoshida I think those days were great. Even in Ginza, there were used disc shops. Hunter, for example. You could do whatever you wanted in any town.

Buying many copies of the same book because you rely on your memory

Yoshida: One of your characteristics is that you buy multiple copies of the same book.

Yoshida: This is the worst one (pointing to the place where “Kobayashi Ashi’s Diet for Couples” is lined up). When I was working on my collection, I couldn’t find this one at all. So, about 15 years ago, I did an event in Hiroshima, and one of the conditions for me to attend a local event was that I had to go around to book-offs (laughs), so I asked them to give me a ride.

I was so excited that I bought as many as I could.

Yoshida I don’t understand why people buy everything. I don’t understand why people would buy everything, just the ones with and without obi. Also, the Cicciolina book there is the same. There’s a famous bookstore in Shikoku that has a Ferris wheel. Basically, they sell new books, but there is a section for bargain books, and I saw on Twitter that there were a lot of new Cicciolina books there.　So I went to Shikoku.

So I went to Shikoku.

Yoshida No, I didn’t buy all of them, but kept a few.

No, I didn’t buy all of them, but kept a few.

Yoshida But because I made a fuss about it on Twitter and on the radio, it disappeared soon after . .

So everyone ran out to buy it.

Yoshida What’s so bad about the Cicciolina book is that it was published by Sankyo Eiga, a movie company created by Kajiwara Ikki. For some reason, they were involved in Cicciolina’s visit to Japan, and they quietly published the book at that time. I didn’t know about it at the time, but when I was in Okayama with Nori Porsche and others and we were visiting used bookstores, he showed me this book in the erotic book section and said, “Gou-chan, I found something good! I was really jealous of this book, and Mr. Code cried and gave it to me.

That’s a good story!　There are a lot of theories about Mr. Rule being a good person, aren’t there?

Yoshida: “Gou-chan looked so disappointed, you know.

Yoshida: I often tell people that I don’t want to get into a certain field or person.

Yoshida I often say that there are books that I should buy even if I have to pay the regular price, books that I would buy if I had to pay half price, and books that I would buy if I had to pay 100 yen.

Yoshida Well, there are some books that I wouldn’t buy even if they were free.

Yoshida Well, yes, there are. If it’s a celebrity’s autobiography, I would want it, but if it’s a program book, I’m not so sure.

But I’m not sure if it’s a book about a TV show. I don’t want to have to buy all of them.

Yoshida But I might need it in a pinch, so I’ll buy it for 100 yen.

Yoshida: Why do you buy so many books, like the book by Kobayashi Asei and the book by Cicciolina that I mentioned earlier?

Yoshida: I guess I get turned on somehow.

Yoshida-san, you don’t make money by reselling books because they are rare, do you?

Yoshida In the first place, there are very few people who understand the rarity of this product (laughs).

(laughs) I hear that you give them to people when you do interviews, but even so, having two copies is enough for me.

Yoshida When I go around used bookstores, I find books that have a nice binding, but are in a genre I’m not interested in. I don’t know much about that field, but it’s something I rarely see in used bookstores. For example, if I find a book of Edogawa Rampo’s in an elaborate box (” “, Shunyo Bunko Edogawa Rampo Masterpiece Collection, 9 volumes) at a reasonable price, I may buy it anyway and give it as a gift to someone I interview who is interested in that field. When I interview someone who is interested in that field, I sometimes give them a gift.

I buy them and give them to people I interview who are interested in that field.

Yoshida Also, I don’t buy a lot of things because I don’t remember what I have.

Yoshida: “Wow, there are all these books.

Yoshida: “Wow, I didn’t know there were books like this! I was so excited to buy it, and the moment I put it in the bookcase, I was like, “What?　And then when I put it on the shelf, I’m like, “Oh, I have ……” (laughs). (laughs) That happens a lot.