Masaaki Hiroi is an extremely renowned craftsman, who earned his status to be recognized as an artist. Masaaki Hiroi makes Edo tops, toys played by both adults and children not only in present-day Japan but also all over the world. He has created numerous Trick tops out of his imagination and creativity which use the spinning motion to move wooden dolls or other wooden items. Masaaki Hiroi's trick tops have unique movements and tastes.
His versions of tops, which far exceeded 3,000 kinds, attracted world-famous physicists, including a physicist who was nominated for Nobel Prize, and researchers from high academic background. He contributed to expanding variations of Japanese traditional Edo tops.
Do you know about the secret stories behind the birth of Tippe top, which are sold all over the world now? Tippe tops are sold at a lot of toy stores around the world. There are unknown secret stories about how Tippe tops were born and revived in this book.
Masaaki Hiroi is the first honorary citizen of Seattle, the United States and earned numerous awards for his achievements and contributions in foreign countries to promote good relationship between other countries and Japan. In the events, he demonstrated how to make tops to people of all ages in more than 30 countries. His works are permanently housed in prominent museums including Musée des Arts Décoratifs(Les Arts Décoratifs), in Palais du Louvre, located in Paris, France.
This book is the story about Masaaki Hiroi's life-long experience from his childhood. There are a lot of unknown stories about him, which have led him to expand his views about culture and life. The author of the book, «Wonder Man-A Memoir of a Craftsman Who Is Recognized as an Artist» is a long-time acquaintance of Masaaki Hiroi. The author sincerely appreciates Masaaki Hiroi's kindly telling the author about his life and personal experiences from his childhood and the background stories of his achievements in order to write this book.
