He started photography when he was in high school, but it has only been 3 to 4 years since he became serious about it. His photos are straightforward and simple in composition. He doesn’t try to make a display of eccentricity, so they come straight into the hearts of audience. Even though his career as a photographer is short, I feel that it’s his experience that supports his photography. Now, let me briefly talk about his personal history.
はじめて写真やカメラに触れたのは高校生の時。驚いたことに本格的に趣味で撮影を始めてわずか3-4年だそうだ。まっすぐで、奇をてらうことなく、確実な構成が故に感じるシンプルさ。そして見る者にすんなり入り込み、じわり訴えかけてくる作品群。写真のキャリアは短くとも、Scottさんが積み重ねてこられた時間と経験が作品を支えているのではないかと感じる。そう、ここでは少しScottさんの経歴について触れたい。
As soon as he graduated from his college, he became a bartender. Surprisingly, he found the job on the newspaper ad. Even though the economy wasn’t as bad as now, how wild is that! After that, he became a salesman of futures product and then a salesman for a trading company where he was headhunted by fellow professional. He switched jobs every 6 to 12 months and the perfect example is a car driver for a hospital. Again, he found it on the newspaper. Why did he become a driver? He “wanted to drive a car.” And, there’s more. He quit the job after 3 months because the car was old. At that time, he just wanted to get a variety of experiences, so he kept checking job ads meticulously. And, whenever he found something interesting, he switched without hesitation. Therefore, it was common that his next job had nothing to do with his former job. After the car driver, he suddenly started a company of tube manufacturing, plumbing, and welding with his acquaintance working at a magic tool section at a department store (Mr. Scott loved magic at that time and commuted to the section).
大学を卒業したと同時に、バーテンダーに。なんと新聞の求人広告を見ての応募だったそうだ。いまのようにシビアな時代でなかったにしろ、大学を卒業していきなりバーテンダーとはなんとも自由奔放だ。その後商品先物のセールス、貿易会社でのセールス、腕を見込まれて同業者からの引き抜きと、半年または1年単位でポンポン職は変わっていく。極めつけなのは、病院での車の運転手を勤めるというものだが、またもや新聞の求人広告が入口だ。しかも「車に乗りたかったから」なんて理由。車が古くて3ヶ月で辞めてしまったなんてオチ付きだ。当時はとにかく色々なことが体験したくて、求人広告を端から端まで眺めていたそうだ。面白そうな仕事があれば、何の執着もなく次の仕事へ。したがって、前職とまったく関連のない職に就くことも珍しくなく、病院の運転手の次は「製管・配管・溶接」を主業務とする会社を、百貨店の手品用品売場で顔見知りだった人といきなり興してしまう（当時手品が大好きで売場に通い詰めたそうだ）。
His journey in search of stimulation went on. Next, he became a sales staff for a heat-resistant paint maker and he made visits to petrochemical complexes and steel companies without making appointments. In his presentation, he sometimes climbed out of a chimney and painted it by himself. How is that? He still has too many other career episodes to introduce, but for now, let me talk about his turning point.
まだまだ刺激を探す旅は続く。耐熱塗料のメーカーに就職、石油コンビナートや製鉄会社へ飛び込みの営業だ。時には煙突に登って実際に自分で塗ってプレゼンテーション。いやはや。キャリアに関するエピソードは枚挙に暇がないのだが、全てを紹介しきれないので、転機となった出会いについてを記すことにしよう。
One day, he encountered what people call game. Yes, it was when the “invader game” was all the rage in Japan. Both children and adults were lost in playing. When Mr. Scott saw these people, he heard his inner voice, “This must be it. Nothing is more dreamful than this job.” At that time, he was importing game machines from abroad, but he came to want to create arcade game machines by himself. Most companies weren’t positive about his idea, but one day he was introduced to Nanao Co. Ltd in Ishikawa Prefecture. It was before they become famous for visual display products as we know it today, and only Nanao undertook the project. And finally, the game machine designed by him was sold. While it sold extremely well, the legendary machine “Family Computer” was released by Nintendo. Immediately after that, Mr. Scott started to develop video game software for the Family Computer. If you’re born in the 1970s and were obsessed with video games, you should remember “Spartan X,” “Spelunker,” “Moon Patrol,” and “Lode Runner.” It is Mr. Scott who developed these legendary games.
いろいろな職を経て、Scottさんはある日ゲームというものに出会う。そう、日本のゲームの黎明期に大流行した「インベーダーゲーム」なんて時代だ。子供も大人も我を忘れ、日常を忘れて本当に楽しそうにプレイする。その様子を見てScottさんの刺激を求める内なる声が「これだ。こんなに夢のある仕事は他にない」と。当時海外からゲーム機の輸入などを行っていたScottさんは、アーケードゲーム機を自前で作ろうと考えた。しかし色々な会社をあたってみても色よい返事を貰えずにいた。そんなある日、石川県の株式会社ナナオを紹介される。当時は今のように映像モニターの世界で名を馳せる前であったが、ナナオだけが唯一引き受けてくれたそうだ。そしてScottさんが作られたゲーム機の販売を。これが売れに売れていた頃、ゲーム業界に歴史的名機が生まれる。1984年、任天堂「ファミコン」の登場だ。Scottさんは、早速ゲームの開発販売に乗り出す。1970年代に生まれ、家庭用ゲーム黎明期の頃に熱中された方ならお馴染みの、スパルタンX、スペランカー、ムーンパトロール、ロードランナーなど後世に名を残す名ゲームのオリジナルや移植開発を手がけることに。
From this point, his career is all about games. He was a coordinator for a US-based company, Broderbund and they were trying to transplant Japanese PC games in the States, but he became the President when the company started a joint-venture with 13 Japanese PC game companies. When the prospects for the launch became certain, SEGA and Nintendo entered the US market with their home video game machines. At that time, PC games market was taking a downturn. So, Broderbund tried to focus on home video games, but the majority of the joint companies opposed, except one company: BPS who becomes famous for Tetris. Because of this connection, Mr. Scott became the President of BPS. The SEGA Enterprises’ (the present SEGA) arcade version of Tetris was very popular then and Nintendo transplanted it for Gameboy and it became a social phenomenon. His hard work in this period was recognized by Nintendo. Already, he was operating two companies: a game developer company and a consulting company for computer technology, but Nintendo offered a president position of Nintendo Software Technology (Seattle, wholly owned by Nintendo) and he accepted the offer. He still has lots of interesting episodes, but I think I should stop here… Anyway, I’m just overwhelmed by his career.
ここからの経歴はゲーム一色だ。日本のPCゲームを当時のIBMやAppleのPCに移植して米国で販売しようとしていた、米・ブローダーバンド社のコーディネートを行っていたが、同社が日本のPCゲーム会社13社とジョイントベンチャーを立ち上げる。Scottさんはなんと社長に就任。立ち上げにある程度目処がついた頃、セガと任天堂が家庭用ゲーム機をひっさげて米国市場に参入。当時、PCゲームにかげりが見え始め、ブローダーバンド社は家庭用ゲーム機へと舵を切ろうとしたが、大多数が難色を示す。そのうち1社だけが賛同。テトリスで名を馳せるBPS社である。この縁でScottさんは米国BPS社の社長に就任。テトリスは当時のセガ・エンタープライゼス（現：セガ）のアーケード版で人気が浸透していた。これを任天堂のゲームボーイに移植し、さらなる大人気を博すのだった。この頃の活躍が、今度は任天堂との縁となる。既にScottさんはゲーム開発会社とコンピューターテクノロジーのコンサルティング会社の2社を経営していたが、任天堂直轄のゲーム開発会社を立ち上げたいとオファーが。これをうけて、任天堂ソフトウェアテクノロジー(シアトル/任天堂100%出資)の社長に就任することに。本当は紹介したいエピソードが山のようにあるのだが、一旦ここで置かせていただく。それにしても・・なんとも形容しがたい。
Some people may think there’s no principle in his career choices and he has been happy-go-lucky. And, if you ask him if he feels so, he may smile wryly and say, “you’re right.” But, I feel that he has been heading to the direction where his hand of heart turned, given himself to the current, and has been doing his best each time the hand turned. Here’s another episode.
Scottさんの経歴をご覧になって、ややもすると「節操がない」「行き当たりばったり」と感じられる方もいるかもしれない。ご本人にそう投げかけると、恐らく「そうですよねえ」なんて苦笑いされるのでは。しかし心の針が振れた方向に、流れに逆らわず身を任せ、その都度ベストを尽くされ今に辿り着かれたのではないかと私は感じるのだ。それを物語るエピソードを一つ。
As I mentioned in the beginning, his name is “Scott Tsumura” (Scott K. Tsumura to be exact). I didn’t check with him on this, but this is my guess. Perhaps, he started to call himself “Scott” right after he came to the United States in order to synchronize himself to the society as soon as possible.
この記事の最初に記したとおり、Scottさんのお名前は「Scott Tsumura」である（正確にはScott K.Tsumura）。ご本人に伺ったわけではないので、私の想像に過ぎないが、恐らく米国に渡られてからすぐに「Scott」と名乗られていたのだろうと思う。1日でも一瞬でも早くシンクロするために。
He first planned to live in the US for 1 year, but it’s been more than 20 years and he has a citizenship as well as a U.S. passport. Even though he feels slightly homesick each time he visits Japan because of the taste of the familiar delicious food, “I didn’t want to live in the States with foreign nationality as if I were borrowing my life from the country.” It was quite an impressive statement to me.
当初1年限定のはずだった米国の生活も20年を超え、とあるタイミングで米国の市民権を得た。パスポートも米国のものに。日本に来られる度に、慣れ親しんだ食事の美味さに一抹の寂しさを感じても「他国籍で借り物みたいに米国に住む自分の立場が嫌だった」と。非常に印象深い一言だった。
I wonder if someone with a variety of careers doesn’t care about his/her accumulation of experience. And, they’re free from the empty word “interest” or “readiness.” They just follow the sign of their heart and give themselves to the flow. Of course, there’re always difficulties because each time they change their careers, they start from zero. But, they feel accomplished each time they gather experience. I think photography doesn’t only capture where the lens is headed, but also the ridgelines of the photographer.
色んな経歴を持つ人こそほど、経歴を積み重ねることそのものに意味を感じていないのではないか。そして興味や覚悟なんて取って付けたかのような言葉とも無縁だ。ただただ、心の針が振れた先に。そして「なすがままに」。もちろん困難もつきまとう。なにせ全て節目では一からなのだから。しかし移ろい積み重ねていく中で、自分の中に静かに堆積していく充足感と達成感。写真はレンズの向き先とは反対の、撮り手の稜線も描くのではないだろうか。お話を伺い写真を拝見して、そう感じるのだ。