sakamoto 
Izakaya Tecchan of Susukino was the most impressive seafood tavern in the entire city of Sapporo, the capital of the northern prefecture of Hokkaido. First-time customers were often struck dumb at the sight of the overflowing piles of nearly 20 different kinds of seafood, served up straight without the added bulk of shredded daikon.
I learned that izakaya master, Tecchan, was taking amateur art classes in his spare time, depicting his surroundings, his family and his dog in pencil sketches and oil paintings. They are very good. But no matter how often I said this, he was always modest, firing back, “You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” However, he eventually he rented a small room near the tavern and turned it into a studio. He spent his most precious relaxation time there, working on his canvases before opening the shop. Tecchan closed his izakaya in the spring of 2020, shortly after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It was 46 years since he opened its predecessor, the Youth and Folk Izakaya, in 1974, at the age of 26, in Kita 24-jo, Sapporo. His routine at Tecchan was to close the doors every night at 10pm, get up at 3:30 the next morning to be at the fish market by 4am, then start preparing fresh seafood from 5am for 120 customers. After years of gripping his knife, the base of his thumb and index finger had fused, but he never complained about the pain and discreetly ate all his meals with his left hand. Now finally he is free to paint, and can leave this overworked life behind.