Dai Okumura is drinking a whiskey highball in a little studio above a ramen shop in Jimbocho. It’s a very sunny day in Tokyo. He’s just driven into town from his home in Chiba. On a day like today, he jokes, he should be out surfing.
The studio belongs to his friend, who, like Dai, is also a dealer in antiques. It’s his home away from home in the city. A place to come and hang out and drink a few drinks with friends, somewhere to talk about their latest finds, big sales, interesting objects they’ve uncovered on their travels, or just to chat about football, art, exhibitions, and music.
Dai has been dealing in antiques for much of his career, “Though honestly, it depends on how you define ‘antique,’” he explains. And the contents of the studio bear some witness to that sensibility. It’s not very zen, in the way some shops of its like in Tokyo, all tasteful wabi-sabi and mingei craft. Tatami, the name Dai has given to the loose collective of dealers and friends he works with, operate in more rebellious, unusual, and alive areas of the antique business.
“I never consciously tried to develop my eye or taste for antiques,” Dai explains. “But I think I’ve always looked at things — whether that's antiques, art, music, surfing, whatever — without really separating them. That hasn’t changed in the past, and probably won’t in the future either.”
