Talking toys with a top Japanese collector

We talk with Kazunori Saito, one of Tokyo's most renowned toy collectors, as he puts his 2,000 items, collected over the last 25 years, on show for the first time

By Matt Alt 21 June, 2010

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齋藤和典

They say money can't buy happiness, but it sure can buy a lot of robot toys.

Daidenjin

A jumbo-sized portrayal of Daidenjin from the "Denjiman" series.

Ultraman

A gaggle of soft vinyl Ultraman figures.

Kaiju

Monsters, monsters everywhere.

Kikaiju

A collection of extraordinarily rare "kikaiju" toys -- villains from various live-action and anime series.

Jumbo robots

Jumbo-sized robots on patrol.

Chogokin

Chogokin (diecast metal) robot toys.

Ninja Captor

"Ninja Captor" figures from Popy.

Astro Boy

Astro Boy and friends.

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At first glance, Kazunori Saito looks like your average Japanese salaryman. But he’s a man with something in his closet. Toys. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Saito is one of Japan’s top collector of character toys -- playthings based on the heroes of countless Japanese television shows, comic books, and movies. His expansive collection covers monsters from the likes of “Ultraman” and “Godzilla,” giant robots, futuristic spacecraft, you name it. At first glance just playthings for children, to aficionados they're as much a part of Japan's cultural heritage as more traditional ephemera such as dolls or woodblock prints.

Saito’s legendary collection is on public display at the Yokohama Doll Museum through July 11, 2010, under the title "Showa Hero and Monster Toy Exhibition." It's a rare opportunity to see such a massive number of character collectibles all in one place, and we dropped by to get a personal tour from the man himself.

CNNGo: This is pretty impressive. Can you give us a brief overview of what’s on display here?

Kazunori Saito: In a nutshell, it’s a collection of merchandise from live-action and animated television shows that aired in Japan during the 1960s and 1970s. They’re toys of monsters and heroes that are familiar to any Japanese in their 30s and 40s.

CNNGo: When did you start collecting all this stuff?

Saito: About two years after I graduated from school and started working. 25 years back.
CNNGo: So these aren’t the toys you played with as a kid.
Saito: No! I started as an adult. I loved the shows as a kid. Like a lot of kids raised in the “golden age” I was mesmerized by them. But I wasn’t really into the toys back then, more into building model kits. Years later, as an adult, I read an article about vintage toys in a magazine. That really piqued my interest. So I went to a specialty store in Shimokitazawa that sold them... And now here we are today. (Laughs)
CNNGo: What's the charm? What do you think gives these toys their power?
Saito: Well, they come from a powerful era. The immediate postwar period was tough, and these toys represent Japan making it through that. It was an era of rapid growth, not only economically but for popular culture such as children's shows as well. The expressiveness and technology of anime and live-action shows was growing in leaps and bounds. The toys were born of that. I think they're powerful because they came from a powerful time.
CNNGo: What’s your single favorite piece on display?
「サイクロン号」
Saito: That would be this little motorcycle toy, the “Cyclone.” It’s the bike Kamen Rider rode in the very first series. This was the first toy I bought when I started collecting. I paid four or five thousand yen for it and decided, “I’m just going to buy all the different bikes and then I’ll be done.” But...
CNNGo: Looks like things didn’t exactly play out that way. How many toys are on display here altogether?
Saito: About 2,000 of them. This is about 99 percent of my collection of Showa era (pre-1989) toys. But I have another collection of Heisei (post-1989) toys at my house.
CNNGo: What exactly is it that you do? Are you involved in the toy industry or the anime industry?
Saito: No, nothing like that! I’m the senior executive director of an advertising agency. I plan commercial campaigns, make commercials, things like that. Collecting toys is an escape from all of that for me. A sort of extreme one. (Laughs)
CNNGo: So you have 2,000 toys here. Are you done? Is this it, finished, complete?
Saito: No. Not yet. The problem is, the things I need to complete it are incredibly difficult to find. The rarest of the rare.
CNNGo: Even as a commercial director, it’s incredible to imagine how you afforded all of this...
Saito: Even I can’t afford this stuff anymore! I purchased the vast majority back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it was cheaper, much more so than today. I was lucky to get the bug so early on. I couldn’t have done it if I’d started today.
CNNGo: So where do you keep all of this stuff when it isn’t in a museum?
Saito: In my house. I display what I can, but my house is small and a lot of it has to be stored away.
CNNGo: This is kind of a personal question, but what does your family think about your collection?
Saito: Oh, they’re used to it. (Laughs)

CNNGo: You never take any flack for it? None at all?

Saito: No, not really. But then again, keeping the collection was the only condition I insisted upon when I got married. Actually, when she agreed to it, I knew for sure I’d found “the one.” (Laughs)

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