Photo/Illutration Takashi Tachibana in 2016 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Critic and journalist Takashi Tachibana, whose death on April 30 at age 80 was reported on June 23, was a veritable polymath whose published works covered an astounding range of subjects.

Here are the titles of just a fraction of his prolific works: "Ege" (The Aegean); "Uchu-yo" (Oh, outer space); "Seishin to Busshitsu" (Mind and matter); "Tenno to Todai" (Emperor and the University of Tokyo); "Shisaku Kiko" (Contemplative travel); "Amerika Seikakumei Hokoku"(American sexual revolution report); and "Yojigen Tokei wa Kuruwanai" (Four-dimensional clock is never off).

Tachibana was once quoted as saying, "I've read 30,000 books and written 100."

I have read practically every Tachibana book I could lay my hands on, but the one that impressed me the most was "Nokyo" (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives).

For this book, Tachibana researched the number of votes collected by regional agricultural cooperatives across Japan at election time and interviewed "zoku-giin" (lawmakers representing the interests of specific industries), and came up with an incisive portrait of the nation's power structure.

As a novice reporter back then, I was deeply inspired by the intensity of Tachibana's professionalism.

I was made acutely aware of his brilliance the day after the Supreme Court found former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka (1918-1993) guilty of bribery in the Lockheed scandal.

Tachibana's op-ed pieces appeared in five or six newspapers that day, condemning the ethos of the political community and decrying the slowness of Supreme Court hearings.

But he wrote each of those commentaries from a different perspective, which was an extraordinary feat in itself. I could only marvel at his genius.

Speaking now as a newspaper reporter who chases the news of the day, something that tends to narrow one’s perspective, I realize that the sheer broadness of Tachibana's perspective is way beyond my reach.

His pursuit of encyclopedic learning, ranging in topic from the human brain to outer space and even eternity, never wavered.

A poem by Tsuruko Harada goes to this effect: "Meaning to tidy up my father's library/ I am inadvertently distracted by Takashi Tachibana's book."

Tachibana made no attempt to hide his unhealthy lifestyle. Calling himself a "department store of lifestyle diseases," he researched the cancer that he had and wrote a book about it.

His works won readers across generations.

"I have a mountain of curiosity, and I have always allowed my curiosity to guide my work," Tachibana summed himself up in a book he published last year.

As a fan who couldn't wait for his next book, I am terribly sad.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 24

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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