Anyone who has surfed the Japanese sites will always find Shizuko
Akama's work mentioned here and there. Like many Shinsengumi
researchers she obviously went through a HIjikata "phase" and wrote a
book on him in the 1970s. She is most well known ofcourse for her
books on Saitou Hajime. Most recently she mentioned that she would
like to continue writing on Fujita Goro and...TAKEDA. She seems to
be pretty cool and if anyone out there, besides the usual
translators, would like to try to translate this piece please do
help. She even interacts with fans, owns Fujita Goro's haori and
frankly without her dedication many mysteries surrounding Saitou and
his later career would have never been explored. Personally, I wish
I knew Japanese so that I could interview her and have her explain
her own personal interpretations on things. But the most important
question is..."of all the fascinating members of the
Shinsengumi...why Saitou?" Because Okita and Hijikata and Nagakura
(due to his memoirs) have always been the more popular figures, so I
wonder why she picked Saitou.
I don't want to burden our usual volunteers so someone please please
help (^_^).
She is an elderly lady...this is a very old picture
http://1happyturtle.com/makoto/shizukoakamabio.jpg