09/07/2026
I have the immense privilege of having received several priceless gifts from Mr. Shiino, including his jacket and his presidential badge. Thanks to Akihiro-san, who put us in touch, I was able to start corresponding with him to present my museum project. He was enthusiastic, which made me incredibly proud, as it meant the world to me that he and Mr. Kaneko appreciated my preservation efforts. I was also deeply grateful for his willingness to support me by championing the project in his own way, granting me access to exclusive documents, booklets, and prototypes. Unfortunately, Mr. Shiino left us far too soon, and I will no longer have the joy of gathering his thoughts and anecdotes on his incredible journey.
Following his sudden passing, I lost some of my enthusiasm for collecting Vestax gear.
But misfortunes never come alone. The equally sudden and far too close loss of Mr. Kaneko—who over time had become a friend, my friend Akihiro-san—also devastated me deeply, and my desire to continue this adventure almost evaporated completely. Reflecting on all of this, I realized that memories are far more important than physical objects. I should have paid closer attention to this alternative way of preserving Vestax when a piece of history slipped away along with Toshi-san. The void left by Toshi-san was also quite traumatic, especially since we were similarly engaged in an active dialogue. To use his own words, only five people knew about what he was supposed to pass on to me. We will never know more. Even so, he left me something of great value in my eyes, which I will share with the Vestax community later this year.
Now, my driving force is to gather as many testimonies as possible from former Vestax employees across all four corners of the globe.
I will be making a call for support in an upcoming post.
Thank you to everyone who read this to the end, and above all, a huge thank you to all of you for keeping this page alive🙏🏼
Anthony
