Tadayuki Kato publishes a book. The half life of one of BEAMS's most outliers is now available in one book. | feature

PROFILE

Tadayuki Kato

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1973. After graduating from university, he joined BEAMS, where he worked as a sales staff member before becoming a buyer for the SURF&SK8 department in 2012. 2017 saw the launch of his own brand, . As the fourth generation of Kato Farm, he grows vegetables in Kamakura and sells them at the market every four days.
Instagram:@katoyasai

The chaos on the set is a sign of happiness.

It seems a little strange to have a formal interview in a conference room like this.

Kato: You always do it while surrounded by high school girls at "Zetteria" there (laughs). That was a good place to talk, though! (*Finam's website for paying members, " Commune H (Mr. Kato's column is being published monthly in the)

I'm relieved to hear that you are definitely picking up the audio today (laughs). Well, the reason I asked for your time today is to talk to you about the "Kato Book," which you mentioned briefly at the end of last year, and which has finally been released. First of all, congratulations on the publication!

Kato: Thank you very much. Knowing the flurry of filming that took place, it's very moving to see it come to fruition like this.

What is this "I AM BEAMS" book about?

Kato: This is a book that focuses on one individual employee who works at BEAMS. The book focuses on one individual employee at BEAMS, who has a distinctive style or strong sense of commitment to fashion, lifestyle, or whatever it is. The president's intention was to “bring the staff out into the open,” which, in essence, is to make the employees into talents. You see, we have many unusual employees (laughs).

And with Mr. Kato, this is your 11th book. How did you feel when you were asked to be a star employee?

Kato: Actually, they had been asking me for a long time. I kept refusing.

Oh, really? Why is that again...?

Kato: I have been producing my own zines for a long time, so I know firsthand how difficult it is to produce “paper products. Even without that, my interests are so wide-ranging that it must be difficult to put them all together.

I have to admit that I was surprised to hear that. What changed your mindset behind your decision to make a book, which you had been refusing to do for so long? What was the change of heart that made you decide to make it this time?

Kato: There were two reasons. First, Akio-kun (Akio Hasegawa, stylist) gave me a push. When we were drinking, Akio-kun said to me, "If the company is willing to pay for it, you should do it.

Past "Vans" collaboration exclusively for "BEAMS" × Stylist Akio Hasegawa.

Kato: One reason is that it coincided with various milestones.

What do you mean by milestones?

Kato: This year, 2026, marks the 50th anniversary of BEAMS, 30 years since I joined the company, and SSZ's 10th anniversary. I decided to publish this book because I thought I would never do it again if I missed the timing.

A release event was held at BEAMS Harajuku to celebrate the publication.

And when it came time to start filming, it was much harder than expected.

Kato: That's right. I knew that. The amount of personal belongings I brought to the studio was an astonishing 30 packets or more. But even so, I was able to narrow it down quite a bit. It was very difficult to examine the items, or rather, to do a kind of decluttering.

Mr. Kato, you have gone through waves of separation many times, haven't you?

Kato: “I'm famous for not letting go (laughs). The first thing to do was to do a thorough inspection at home, and the second thing to do was to do a thorough inspection in the studio. Of course, we couldn't shoot all 30 packets. And the contents of those 30 packets were mostly books and clothes. I brought skate decks, toys, and figurines in my car because I didn't want them to break during shipping. So, as expected, the studio was in chaos.

But at home, you can't open up your collection all at once and look at it, so in a way it was a happy time for you, wasn't it?

Kato: Yes, I collected them well. I thought I was out of the ordinary (laughs). But I still remember that moment, and I had it photographed, and for some reason, I think that photo may be my favorite.

These photos are filled with your dreams and aspirations, aren't they? I wonder if you made any new discoveries by spreading them out.

Kato: This is almost like a new discovery, or a reaffirmation, but I realized that although they seem to be collected in pieces, they are somehow all linked together. For example, when I kept Chris Lindig at home, his decks, books, and toys were not all in one place, but because I could spread them out, I was able to put them all together, and I realized that I had this much of the same artist in my collection.

Kato: It was a moment when I could see my interests expanding horizontally, like, "Oh, this is Chris Johansson-related, this is Jason Arnold, oh, this is Paulus Walker's," and so on.

It would be impossible to arrange this amount of books by artist at home, wouldn't it? Is there a category that you have given up on?

Kato: Surfboards...I had three of them on the board, but I simply couldn't take any more with me to the studio. I really wanted to have all 30 of them, which I have at home, appear (laughs).

After the filming, have you put away the 30-packs yet?

Kato: I did a little bit of work on it, but I left it in place for another 10 packets or so. It's already been about three months since the shooting (laughs). (Laughs.) I'm still reeling from the hardships of that year-end and New Year's holiday. It's a kind of trauma. So I think I'm going to be a little more lazy when it comes to cleaning up.