Collector Spotlight

Hiroshi Tanaka

A pressing obsessive in Kyoto whose small, exacting collection prizes the perfect copy over the rare one.

A Japanese man in his fifties inspecting a record under a lamp in a spare Kyoto listening room

Hiroshi owns fewer than five hundred records, and considers even that slightly excessive. Where other collectors chase breadth, he chases the single best copy of each album he loves — the right stamper, the quietest surface, the cut that lets the recording speak.

He will spend a year tracking down a particular pressing, compare three copies under a loupe, and keep only one. The rest go back into the world. "I am not building a library," he explains. "I am building a shelf I can trust completely."

The result is a collection with no weak links — every record a reference, every play a small confirmation that patience was the right approach.