The well-educated, fluent in English staff of the Tolman Collection comprise one of its most important assets. Our clients consist of citizens from more than 50 countries and in addition to their native languages, the battle with English, they face the constant struggle with the Japanese language. So, it can be said that our clients are delighted to visit our gallery to be looked after their artistic needs by four very personable, kind and helpful Japanese men in English.
Allison Tolman is now the owner of The Tolman Collection, a position she holds while living in New York and making frequent visits to Tokyo. A graduate of Yale University and a board member of The Japanese Art Society of America (JASA,) she has operated her own art business in New York for more than 20 years.
Eiji Nagao, now the Senior Advisor of The Tolman Collection has been a very important part of our gallery for almost 40 years. His employment started during his 4th years at Meiji University while he worked as an “arbaito" (part time worker.) His charming, patient, dedicated manner, coupled with his total knowledge of the art that our gallery offers has made him a vital person in our gallery. Clients who worked in Japan many years ago often make it a habit to drop by to say hello to him when they visit Japan. They are always swept away when he can recall what pieces they have bought from our gallery.
Daisuke Maruoka, Managing Director of The Tolman Collection, has served our company well; from the start, for five years and a half as the sole operator of our Shanghai effort, and later as the representative of our Hong Kong gallery for around same length of time. Those eleven years have given Daisuke an international outlook and his almost 20 years with The Tolman Collection make him an indispensable person in our gallery. Our frequent overseas exhibitions sometimes call on Daisuke to participate, even to the extent of shows we have done in Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brussels and Qazaqstan. He has also worked in New York with Allison Tolman at major international exhibitions.
Shin Mochizuki, International Project Manager, has been with The Tolman Collection for more than a decade. After receiving an MBA from Meiji University, Shin has worked on marketing our gallery. His responsibilities include correspondence with gallery customers, responding to email inquiries and expanding The Tolman Collection's mission of promoting contemporary Japanese works on paper.
Kiyo Fukuda, Project Manager has been with the Tolman Collection for several terms. First as a young college student he worked on a part time basis. After his graduation, Kiyo began working for the gallery full-time. His focus is on developing special projects and exhibitions outside of our gallery. His extensive network of contacts is valuable for our business.
In an effort to offer our clients information about our staff I have given a brief description about the people who work so hard for our company and have for such a long time. Recently, during the Covid 19 epidemic we have been forced to remodel the working hours of our gallery and are now open on a daily basis with five employees in Shiba Daimon, while I am restricted to working at my apartment. To assist me in whatever I have to do here I have availed myself of the services of Sekiya Goun, from Shanghai.
We have styled him "Mr. Go", and although he was originally hired as my P.A. (personal assistant,) in the year that he has been in my employ his knowledge of our business has grown so quickly that now he has been appointed E.A. (executive assistant.) Mr. Go is fluent in the Shanghai dialect as well as Mandarin Chinese. His 20 years in Tokyo have furnished him with excellent Japanese and his duties as my assistant have raised his English level . He is a talented photographer, and a person interested in almost everything that has to do with our art business. I think it is reasonable to say that he has made himself to be an important part of our organization.
