from one editor to another with kyoichi tsuzuki
ISSUE 004: FALL 2025
Interview by Jade
Former editor of magazines like POPEYE and BRUTUS, Kyoichi Tsuzuki isn’t just a photographer - he’s a journalist. Tsuzuki’s work has become solidified amongst cult classics, with subtle but hard-hitting pieces on Tokyo apartments and love hotels - pieces that once were looked down upon by fashion brands and professionals circa 90’s, are now becoming collector’s items and are being reissued due to high demands.
Alongside scans from Tsuzuki’s book, HAPPY VICTIMS, I got the opportunity to ask Tsuzuki some reasions over e-mail to get a deeper insight into his work and mindset around journalism, the past, and who he is today.
MAUDLIN: I know that with Tokyo Style a lot of the apartments shown in the photos are friends or friends of friends and so forth. For Happy Victims, how did you find such an array of people who have such large collections of designer clothing?
[Editor’s note: the original intro to HAPPY VICTIMS states a similar process, but Kyoichi expands a bit more here.]
KT: As I mentioned in the original 2008 intro, most of the brands didn't like our project and didn't give us any information about their customers. Or rather they don't know, and are not interested in the real customers.
MAUDLIN: Do you have a daily routine and if so, what does a day look like for you?
KT: I used to go out a lot, but stopped drinking a couple of years ago. Now, when I am in Tokyo, most of the days I cook, work, cook again and watch Korean dramas on TV (they are like darker, more surreal version of telenovela).
As I will become 70 years old next January, I am trying to travel around, both in Japan and overseas, as much as possible while I can.
MAUDLIN: What motivates you to continue with your journalism? I know that you have mentioned in regards to Roadsiders that you are bringing stories and places to people who cannot afford to travel and discover themselves, but what specifically about the places and people you find, encourages you to keep going?
KT: Professionally, I am a journalist. However, I have been trying not to meet celebrities or visit hard-to-reach places. Instead, I want to take a fresh look at the things around us that we are too close to notice. In doing so, I hope to re-evaluate my environment and the circumstances in which I live. Some themes emerged from my frustration at things that everyone should love but which aren't being highlighted. Others stemmed from a sense of urgency: if I don't document these things now, they'll disappear. These frustrations and this sense of urgency have driven my work from the beginning until now.
MAUDLIN: What advice do you think you can offer from one journalist/editor to another?
KT: When I started writing about art and design for magazines in my twenties, more than 40 years ago, I didn't have an educational background in the field. The art and design critics and media either hated or ignored my stories, saying that I didn't know enough.
At first, I was depressed, but I gradually realized that those professionals had all the knowledge, but they didn't have the freedom to move around that I had when working with magazines. They were too slow to catch on to what was really happening. My advice is not to rely too much on professionals. They may know what happened, but they don't know what's happening now. Trust your instincts. It's always more important to keep your curiosity than to study.
MAUDLIN: In Tokyo Style, there is a sweet dedication to your Honda 50cc scooter. How would having a bigger budget or a bigger team have changed the series back then?
KT: Most of the participants in TOKYO STYLE were just ordinary young people. For them, the interview and photo session must have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They couldn’t relax in front of a large crew. On top of that, the rooms were so small there was no space to set up big lighting equipment, and the electrical capacity was too limited anyway.
What I really wanted was to work with them in a private, intimate atmosphere. I didn’t bring an assistant—actually, I didn’t have one back then, and I still don’t.
MAUDLIN: Where are you riding around these days to get your stories for ROADSIDERS? [Tsuzuki’s online magazine full of roadside stories and documentation.]
KT: I try not to stay in Tokyo all the time. I travel as much as possible—to Europe, across Asia, and to small towns in rural Japan. Publishers, TV stations, and the mass media are all based in Tokyo, but they can’t really follow what’s happening outside the city.
MAUDLIN: And lastly, as you mentioned before you have a sense of urgency that things will disappear. Like yourself, I think a lot of people worry about this - which is why I believe we are seeing a wave of reprints, anniversary editions, and remakes of books, music albums, movies... Is there anything that you miss from the time period of Happy Victims and Tokyo Style that is now (possibly forever) gone?
KT: When I made Happy Victims, the world was not so much dominated by fast fashion - people kept their clothes much longer than now. When I made Tokyo Style, the internet was just beginning. We didn't have messengers or smartphones. We had books, videos and records.
Now we have fast fashion, Netflix, Spotify and Kindle. Our living environment does not reflect our personality compared with 20 years ago. It used to be that our rooms, our daily lives were much more private, as we didn't have Instagram or TikTok.