Rumor had it that Mitsuru Yamazaki used to drive a taxicab in New York City.
That rumor was unfounded. Yamazaki, who goes by his painter's name, Mitsuru, drives his taxi in Tokyo from his base in Taito Ward. He has a map in his head of the streets of Tokyo, which he knows inside out. His heart belongs to the capital's old downtown.
In his memory, the Shiba Park area where he grew up was not the chic district it has since become. In the early postwar years, to him it was part of the beloved downtown. Mitsuru was an active, mischievous child in the 1950s. He still has a light of kindly fun in his eyes, a look of curiosity, interest and friendliness.