"If I gave up, did not act and forgot about it, then nothing would exist" ~ Katsuhiko Nakajima tells the story behind the AXIZ "GOLD" Photobook.

February 2020
Katsu Diary PKDX

"There may be times when you are scared and unable to act.
But in that case, look at this photobook, when it was completed, it had been made by overcoming worries and conflicts.
I want you to remember that."

Katsuhiko Nakajima starts his diary by talking about his duty towards Go Shiozaki, ("everything was enveloped because of Shiozaki LOVE").
Was it his duty to replace Shiozaki? He thought it was troublesome (to face Suzuki), but he didn't really care ultimately about the details, it was about fulfilling his responsibilities as a partner, wasn't it? It meant that Shiozaki could defend the GHC Heavyweight on the 8th March in Yokohama without worrying about what was going on around him.

Nakajima then talks about the AXIZ photo collection "GOLD".
At the YouTube broadcast, "Endless Love", it was either the chocolates given to him for Valentine's Day by Go Shiozaki being too delicious, or that he was so excited that he didn't remember, but he wanted to go deeper into things and talk about the reason why they had done the photobook, but time was limited.
It turns out that the idea for the photobook came out as a way to celebrate their (AXIZ) 15th anniversary. There where other people in Noah at that time who were celebrating their 15th anniversary, and Nakajima wanted to have an anniversary show but for some reason or another it never happened. Nakajima wanted to mark it in a special way, and he didn't want to regret that he didn't do anything.
So, how to create something that could store memories and serve as a record?
A photobook.

Nakajima went to talk to the company. He knew that there wasn't much money to spare, so how would he get a photo book without burdening them? Nakajima put it to them in various ways, but it was difficult for him to persuade them as he himself admits, he was a bit too innocent to know how to make a business pitch. There were pros and cons, but as he says "There are a lot of things that you don't know unless you're a business leader."
The answer, while not perhaps a straight out NO, was very close to it, but it seemed that the company could see the wisdom in what Nakajima was asking, so they asked Wakiko Miyagi (Noah's official photographer) to get together the PhotoTheLIVE team. Nakajima didn't want to bother her, and so he told her honestly that he didn't want to do it anymore. He's embarrassed to admit that he sounded like a child, but Miyaki was not going to take his backing out for an answer, and told him they were doing it.
Nakajima was very happy, he had been prepared to give up, but now she took charge of everything, and as Nakajima says the rest is history. He says there was snide comment though about the way he did it, but Nakajima says he doesn't really care, he got the results, and that then leads him to the moral of the story.
Don't give up. Ever.
The answer to his request was NO at first. No good. No use. Alright. Lets give up.
He wanted to make NO into a YES. What should he do? He kept on at the company, and because President Takeda understood and then the people around him did too, he considers himself to be blessed. Had he given up and done nothing, then nothing would have been what he got.
Nothing would have been what existed.

You can purchase the AXIZ photobook from the official Noah site here
(Please note that the shop does not ship internationally, so you will need to use a carrier like "White Rabbit Express")

Translated from Katsuhiko Nakajima's PKDX diary "Katsu Diary" (February 2020)
Big thanks to MetalNoah for sending this to me
Picture credit: PhotoTheLive