Mauricio writes...
Story 44 - The Hidden President
It was my first trip to Japan. I was taking the Horacio stories to be published in a new magazine called Itigo-shimbum, which means Strawberry Journal in Japanese.
At that time, the American agency of United Features was handling my work and had been able to interest the Japanese company Sanrio in my little dinosaur. The magazine was already publishing Snoopy and Hello Kitty, the latter property created by them.
The magazine was still in its earliest issues and Sanrio was taking its first steps to become a gigantic worldwide network of attractive little shops. When I arrived in Japan they were in the process of inaugurating the second store in the chic Ginza district of Tokyo.
A group of Japanese executives was waiting for me when my plane landed. The vice president, Ogisu-San, took care of the introductions very courteously, pleasantly, and informed me that on the following day (Sunday) I would visit the Ginza shop to become acquainted with Sanrio’s work philosophy, products and other directors.
Among the group of greeters was a smiling dark-haired gentleman with glasses who remained silent, not uttering a word from the airport to the hotel. I did not know who he was.
They left me at the hotel to get a good night’s rest and picked me up the next day to go to the Ginza store. A steady stream of people were trying to get in. And at the counters, ice cream stands, toy displays, the directors themselves were attending customers.
The silent gentleman was working at the ice cream stand. Only at the end of the day did he find time to interrupt his work and ask me, through the vice president, for an autographed drawing. He gave me a pretty card outlined in gold and some pens, then watched attentively while I took pains to draw a sophisticated picture of Monica and the whole gang. He received the completed drawing and went back to the ice cream. Meanwhile, I walked on through other departments, curious and fascinated by all the bustle.
The next morning I was the special guest at the weekly meeting of the directors. At a large round table where the directors were seated in front of their assistants, only the vice president and the silent gentleman had no one behind them. And there, finally, he was formally introduced to me: the president of the company, Mr. Shintaro Tsuji, active to this day.
He had observed me at the airport, tested my artistic talent, perceived my enthusiasm for what I was seeing, and only then did he introduce himself. Because from then on he would have to have a direct relationship with me.The president of Sanrio and the president of my Mauricio de Sousa Productions.
It was a success! Horacio pleased the children who read the Strawberry Journal and I stayed another two months helping to implant the lovely Sanrio business. It was even necessary to have my top final art technician, Alice Takeda, join me in Japan to help.
So I returned home with a batch of stories to tell. Like the one about the six-million-dollar vase I received but did not accept.
That story is coming next in Real Story #45.
Mauricio de Sousa
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