"It still doesn't feel like he's gone. I don't really think about him passing away or anything like that. When I look around his workplace, it looks like Anzai is working as usual."
When I visited Anzai Mizumaru's Aoyama studio, a staff member from his office muttered this to me as he showed me around. It was as if he had been working just moments before and had just gone for a walk in the neighborhood. Anzai has two studios, one in Aoyama and one in Kamakura. It seems he uses the Aoyama studio mainly for illustration work, and the Kamakura studio for writing.
Ten years have passed since his death, but both studios remain exactly as they were back then. A blank sheet of paper is set on a desk surrounded by an abundance of objects, giving the impression that a new project could begin at any moment. The collection of familiar motifs in Anzai Mizumaru's work, including snow globes, Blue Willow tableware, folk art and character dolls, is also still there.
Anzai, who served as the president of the Japan Snow Globe Association, has used snow globes as motifs in his works and co-authored a book titled "Snow Globe" with Hironori Momose. On the shelves are Blue Willow tableware depicting a tragic Chinese love story. 
Aoyama's studio is located in a quiet residential area, just off the main road. In the foreground is the sofa where he would often take naps between work sessions. He was a man who always met deadlines.
"It's not that I wanted to leave it like that, but time just passed while I was wondering what to do."
Aoyama's studio is home to a vast collection of original drawings and magazine clippings, and the works will be donated to the Haruki Murakami Haruki Murakami Library at Waseda University's International Literature Museum, while the rest will be donated to Musashino Art University.
The original drawings, stored on custom-made shelves, were donated to Musashino Art University, but when we visited to take photos, nearly half of them had already been removed. 
The illustrations are not really divided into tasks, and the work will be carried out over the next two to three years. 
His assistant, Akiko Oshima, still organizes the materials once a week. She re-enacted the work that was done at the time.
"Anzai must have had a strong attachment to his work, and he was very concerned about the whereabouts of the original drawings, such as when the manuscripts he submitted were returned. He also considered illustrations to be finished works once they were published in print, so he would save clippings from the magazines they were published in and treasure them very much," recalls a staff member.
He recently published an unfinished novel, "One Franc Moon," which can be considered a sequel to his 1990 autobiographical novel, "Tokens in the Palm of Your Hand." He apparently wrote these works almost entirely in his studio in Kamakura.
The Kamakurayama studio, located on a hill overlooking the sea, more closely reflects Anzai Mizumaru's lifestyle. The windows on the south side overlooking the sea are intentionally placed high, allowing one to see all the way to the sky when seated. On the desk where he likely wrote while feeling the breeze from the rustling trees, are unfinished manuscripts bound with his beloved Pelikan fountain pen, maps, and other materials. As in the Aoyama studio, there is a miscellany of Blue Willow, slipware, lighthouses and folk art he acquired on his travels, all displayed in an exquisite arrangement. The closet is filled with his trademark Lee denim jackets and military chinos he bought in Ameyoko.
The closet was neatly packed with Anzai's beloved denim and chinos. 
His desk was filled with his favorite things, such as glasses and a pipe.
"I stayed here for about three or four days while writing this. I only kept things I liked, and the things I chose were all things I was attached to. It would have been a pain to tidy up after I was gone, and I couldn't bring myself to tidy up, so it ended up like this (laughs). I left most of the design of the house up to the architect. Rather than using weirdly stylish building materials, I like cheap, simple things like plywood, and I asked him to make good use of them."
This year marks the 10th anniversary of his death on March 19th. This has led to the release of an unfinished novel, the publication of related books, and a national traveling exhibition titled "Illustrator Anzai Mizumaru" scheduled for August at the Fukui City Museum of Art. Things are once again bustling around Anzai Mizumaru.
"It would be sad if Anzai were forgotten, so I think he's happy that he's being featured in so many ways. I'd be very happy if people continue to remember him in a natural way, as they have done up until now."
