If you aren’t familiar with the name Koichi Sugiyama, you should be by the time this article ends.
Sugiyama is a music composer, best known for composing pretty much all the music from the Dragon Quest games, starting way back in 1986 with the original.
Now aged 84 years young, he was recently seen in Japan celebrating the announcement of Theatrhythm Dragon Quest, Square Enix’s latest rhythm action title, which may as well have just been called Sugiyama: The Game.
Sadly, he’s also a bit of a dick: back in 2007 he helped start a campaign arguing that the Nanking Massacre and the Japanese army’s use of women as sexual slaves during World War II didn’t happen.
It’s neither Sugiyama’s music nor his offensive attempts at revising history that draw me to him, however. His face does.
For a while, Sugiyama ran a website called Sugimania (not a joke) in which he posted news about what he was up to. This also included a handful of photo galleries showing him out and about.
These photos are bloody marvellous. And to prove it, here are my 30 favourite ones, in reverse order (keep going, they get superb).
And if the idea of making fun of an old man’s tourist photos sounds cruel, remember: he’s an absolute arsehole.
30) Sugiyama standing outside in the snow
29) Sugiyama sitting at a desk next to a woman and a laughing man
28) Sugiyama standing proudly in front of a tree while a woman in a white hat hides
27) Sugiyama at Stonehenge
26) Sugiyama showing off Theatrhythm Dragon Quest, and also his jumper
25) Sugiyama investigating a shrub
24) Sugiyama enjoying the view
23) Sugiyama imitating a statue
22) Sugiyama posing next to food
21) Sugiyama giving a thumbs up while preparing to support it with his other hand should the need arise
20) Sugiyama shading his eyes from the sun so dramatically his eyes remain unshaded
19) Sugiyama playing DS while enjoying a cheeky smoke
18) Sugiyama standing underneath a tree
17) Sugiyama contemplating his curry
16) Sugiyama straddling between a bridge and a path
15) Sugiyama rocking a fucker of a hairdo and enjoying another cheeky smoke
14) Sugiyama spread eagle on the grass
13) Sugiyama holding an onion
12) Sugiyama flanked by Dragon Quest monsters
11) Sugiyama taking a photo of his photographer while enjoying a cheeky smoke
10) Sugiyama casually enjoying a good lean
9) Sugiyama holding a sword in front of three other men rocking his fucker of a hairdo
8) Sugiyama elaborately pointing at a sign
7) Sugiyama with a priest
6) Sugiyama pointing off-screen, once again preparing to support his arm
5) Sugiyama exhibiting snow
4) Sugiyama with two vintage cameras, the left of which has an unintentional smiley face
3) Sugiyama posing with a crab
2) Sugiyama shaking hands with a hand made of hands
1) Sugiyama struggling to comprehend the concept of a hand made of hands
Nice collection. This man clearly knows what his fans want and a picture of himself holding an onion is, bizarrely, what they’re after.
For a moment after seeing his incredible hair he shot up to very near the top of my favourite person rankings, and then I remembered his denial of Japanese war crimes and he dropped back to roughly where he was.
Haha! This is gd hilarious. 🙂 reminds me of thesneeze somehow.