—

So your wife bought those old frames, and that led to a single painting. But after that you couldn’t stop.

Sasao

Right.

—

From there, the floodgates were open?

Sasao

I don’t know what it was, but I just couldn’t stop painting. I painted pictures of everything around me. First it was still lifes, things that I could see in the room where I worked. Whatever was there.

—

By then it had been 20 years since you left college. Did the joy of painting really come back to you that suddenly?

Sasao

When I was a student, I never really thought of it as a joy.

—

Really? Even as you went to the studio every day?

Sasao

When I think back to how I felt at the time... I don’t remember much. But I don’t think it felt as interesting to me then as it does now.

—

Oh, really?

Sasao

Once I started painting again in my 40s, it felt very new and refreshing. It was simply fun. Part of the fun was realizing I could still paint after all that time—I really surprised myself.

—

That must be because you painted every day for three years in high school.

Sasao

That’s true. If I hadn’t painted every day back then, I think it would be impossible now. I also don’t think I’d find it as fun now.

—

Does your work in marketing have any effect on the art you make now?

Sasao

Boy, I can’t even guess. I don’t even think I could say whether my experience in marketing was good or bad for my art.

—

I see.

Sasao

But at the very least, I don’t think I could paint without having had that experience as a student. After all, I spent a great deal of my life working so hard on painting.

—

60 is often thought of as retirement age; you had the option of working a few more years and hitting retirement in the usual way. So what made you quit at 56?

Sasao

56 was already much too late. My wife kept hounding me to quit—she was always calling me stupid for going along with the crowd instead of dropping everything to paint.

—

Oh!

Sasao

Oh, it’s always been like that! She’s been calling me stupid as long as we’ve been married.

—

I see! (Laughs)

Sasao

It’s been 20 years since I made that decision.

—

So that makes you...

Sasao

I’m 76.

—

Wow, you don’t look it! You just seem much younger—you’ve got a great sense of style.

Sasao

I think a normal person would become a painter at 20 and take on a better job in their 40s.

—

The time in your life when you start to buckle down.

Sasao

For me, though, that time is only coming now.

—

I see what you mean.

Sasao

I don’t actually know if that’s true. But if I think it is, then I feel more motivated. I have a long way to go as a painter, and there’s so, so much I want to do.

—

What’s a normal day like for you? Do you still paint all day long?

Sasao

I wake up in the morning and I make breakfast. After my wife and I finish eating, around 9, I go upstairs and start painting. Around 11 a voice shouts at me to come down for tea.

—

That must be your wife at the bottom of the stairs. (Laughs)

Sasao

Right. So I go downstairs, we play a game of rummy, and the loser has to make the tea.

—

What a cute couple! You do that every day?

Sasao

Yeah, almost every day. Then we eat lunch and I paint until 3. At 3 we play cards again to decide who’ll make the tea and I take a break. Then I paint until 6, and then we eat dinner. After that, I paint until 9.

—

You’re right back in your high school years.

Sasao

I paint even more now than I did then.

—

Wow.

Sasao

When I’m painting something, and I’m right in the middle of it, I’m already thinking of all kinds of other things I want to paint.

So I paint, and I paint, and before I know it the house is full.

—

There really are paintings all over the living room.

Sasao

I always intend to paint one picture. But behind every painting there are a hundred more.

—

It’s strange how that works! (Laughs)

Sasao

It really is. (Laughs)