For more than 30 years, Masamichi Oikawa has drawn the cover art for Pia magazine, reports staff writer Edan Corkill

Masamichi Oikawa is an important man. Far more so than his leprechaun smile and electric-blue aloha shirt let on. If something were to happen to him — an injury or, heaven forbid, something worse — over 170,000 Japanese would be lost. Lost, that is, for something to do on the weekend.

Without this 68-year-old's illustrations, Japan's infotainment bible, the weekly magazine Pia, would be without a cover. And, even if the magazine had a backup cover to run, chances are that without a picture penned by Oikawa, no one would recognize it, let alone buy it.