Kitahara Teruhisa If you want to do what you love as a job, do it 3 to 4 times more than other people!

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Teruhisa Kitahara

Representative Director of Toys Co., Ltd. Born in Tokyo in 1948. Graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. A leading global toy collector. At the age of 37, he opened the Tin Toy Museum in Yamate, Yokohama. His collection is currently on permanent display in seven locations across the country. He appears as an appraiser on the TV Tokyo program "Kaiun! Nandemo Kanteidan" and is also active in commercials, lectures and talk shows across the country. He has published over 50 books, including "Yokohama Gold Rush," "The 10 Rules for Luck: Making Your Dreams Come True," and "Your Dreams Will Come True." In 2007, he received the Best Jeanist Award.

A museum like a toy box

Perhaps it's best to say that it feels like "getting lost in a toy box." In a small space of about 10 tatami mats, about 3000 toys collected from all over the country are lined up in a tightly packed row. The Tin Toy Museum is quietly nestled in a corner of Yamate, Yokohama, where elegant Western-style buildings stand. It opened in 1986, making it the same age as today's university students. The museum director is Kitahara Teruhisa, who is known worldwide as a leading expert on tin toy collections.

The beginning of a life as a collector

He became interested in studying in high school and entered Aoyama Gakuin University with high hopes for his studies, but at the time the university was in the midst of campus unrest. Frustrated by the days when he wanted to study but had no classes, he decided to study abroad at Hesky University in Austria, with the encouragement of his father. There, he experienced a culture shock when he encountered the lifestyle of the family he was staying with. "How can I put it? There was no 'sense of life.' In the living room, there were vases and family photos lined up, and an old copper pot that looked like it had been used by his great-grandmother was displayed on the wall like an ornament. What's more, they even cooked in it. Seeing that kind of lifestyle made me think, 'I want to live a life surrounded by the things I love in the future.'"

Kitahara was impressed by the way the people he stayed with valued possessions. When he returned to Japan at the age of 20, he found a grandfather clock with a spring that had been discarded in a bulky waste dump. He brought it home, oiled it, and it started ticking again. It's no secret that this grandfather clock was the first in his memorable collection. From that day on, he began to collect various items, including vacuum tube radios and character goods, marking the beginning of his life as a collector. Then, at the age of 25, he began collecting tin toys in earnest. His toy collection, which began as a hobby, grew rapidly, and now it is so large that it would take several museums across the country to fit it all.

Kitahara Style: How to Make Your Dreams Come True

"I once had a dream to build a toy museum. I made that dream come true in my 30s. Dreams come true when you speak them out loud. Everything I've ever said I would do has come true. I've had a Ford Thunderbird, a seaside villa, and even met my idol, Yuzo Kayama. The only thing that hasn't come true yet is meeting Sayuri Yoshinaga. I've been saying that since I was 17 (laughs)."

According to Kitahara, the trick to making your dreams come true is to "talk about it in a fun, passionate, and specific way," and to "never give up." "If you seriously talk about your dreams to 100 people, 99 of them will say, 'What a stupid thing to say,' but at least one of them will say, 'That's a good idea,' and support you. That one person might help you achieve your dream, right? That's why I told 10,000 people. If you tell 10,000 people, you'll have 100 allies!"

Kitahara continues, "If you want to do what you love as a job, you should work two to three times harder than other people at whatever you do. Dreams don't come true right away. Even for me, it took me more than 10 years to make some of my dreams come true. But I never gave up, which is why I was able to make my dreams come true."

The dream continues

When we asked him to choose the toy he felt the most attached to for the photo shoot, he laughed and said, "Well, they all have sentimental meanings." Kitahara's love is poured into each and every toy, carefully arranged in the showcase. And they continue to bring smiles to people's faces even today. For a toy, there is nothing more satisfying. Kitahara's vision for the future is to gather his current collection of toys, posters, and more, which is said to number in the hundreds of thousands, in one place and create a pavilion where they can all be viewed.

"I'm sure that in 100 years, the toys I've collected will become an important cultural heritage for future generations. I mean, there's no way anyone has ever collected so many toys before (laughs)."

Even after the interview was over, Kitahara happily explained each piece of his collection, saying, "This is great, isn't it?" If we meet again, he will surely show me a photo of himself with Yoshinaga Sayuri with a big smile on his face. Of course, he will say, "This is great, isn't it?"

From the August 2007 issue of the Student Newspaper