3how and how I met Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who gave birth to Mario and Donkey Kong
Tokyo: winter 1993.
The final hour of the opening party for my photography show at Mole Gallery. A friend who lives near the gallery has kindly allowed me the use of his apartment for the post-opening party. He calls to remind me to get the key from him before he catches the bus back to his hometown.
At 11, Tsuda-san, the saint who runs the gallery, closes the door. We head out into Yotsuya-sanchome. We’re a parade of twenty or so: males and females, Westerners and Japanese. It is very cold.
We buy more booze.
We walk through a maze of houses, alleys and shortcuts. Windows are everywhere and I’m worried about noise. MOST of the parade is quiet.
We arrive. The house is dark. We want in. We need warmth. “My friend’s gone,” I say, “just give me a second to find the key.”
I’ve had more than a few beers, it’s snowing and I have no idea where the key is. If my friend had left footprints, they are hidden beneath fluffy whiteness.
Under the doormat, in the mailbox, underneath rotting logs: I Iook everywhere. The crowd is becoming loudly impatient. I desperately run my hands above a window-and find a key!
It was probably last used in the Meiji era. I try it. It works! I usher everyone in as though there had been no problem at all.
I immediately crack open another beer. The phone rings. I answer it.
On the other end is People magazine, looking for a photographer. He just moved to Russia…
The next day, on a bullet train to Kyoto, hungover. I am soon to photograph Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who invented the Mario character, as well as Donkey Kong. The shoot went very well. The magazine used two shots and the photos went into syndication.
Miyamoto-san was a pleasure to shoot. We did some shots inside the Nintendo building, but the atmosphere wasn’t really right. Fortunately, he had time.
Over a cup of tea he told me that he often went to a nearby temple. The rock garden there helped him concentrate, helped to cleared his mind. Off we went!
We arrived there after a ten minute walk. We sat in different areas. Time passed wordlessly. Eventually, I posed him and Mario and back we went. In the yard of Nintendo, we did a few more, with Miyamoto-san expertly playing his banjo with Mario looking on.
Since then, I have enjoyed that garden many times. No matter what the season, the place is inspiring. I was happy to return there in 2002 when I was shooting for Kazuko and Chihiro Masui’s Sushi Secrets. The book features a full page image of the rock garden in autumn, framed by white shoji doors.
In a storage box somewhere, I still have the two CDs of banjo music I bought to send to Miyamoto-san.
SO…
Let’s jump to Singapore, 2011, the night before Christmas Eve. The location is an almost abandoned printing factory. The computers and internet still work. Amith Narayan and Wilson Goh meet for the first time; the first 3how is born! Damien Brachet is there. After midnight and a lot of miscommunication, the legendary Banyari band shows up. Music!
One of the many highlights of that 12 hour marathon session was a strange feeling of deja vu. As I was videoing the musicians, goosebumps appeared on my arms: I sensed something familiar yet very alien. Finally I realized what was what. Wilson had gone online, and then spontaneously improvised a song based on one of my blog posts: the story about how I met Shigeru Miyamoto.
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This is one of the stories in this book.
Stephen Black’s blog is at www.blacksteps.tv
