Why was ZUN nervous yesterday? The answer is not Reitaisai, about which he should have nothing to worry about. The reason is this:
At 11PM, May 24:
ZUN: Today, I got to drink with the master I'm a fan of, whom I consider to be the person closest to fantasy. This is the best experience of my life. I saw Akaishi Sanjin with my own eyes!! He is so kawaii.
Japanese Wikipedia tells me, Akaishi Sanjin is a director of the Taekwondo Association of Japan, and an elderly man with white beard.
At 10AM, May 25:
ZUN: I got up and saw the priceless sake and black tea is still there in the room. It was not a dream.
Fanboy mode ZUN, you are kawaii, too!
So, who is this
Akaishi Sanjin ZUN thinks so highly of he gives him the "closest to fantasy" evaluation? Since little non-Japanese info exists on him, he does need some introduction.
Akaishi Sanjin is a scholar with many insights about the mysteries of Japanese history, but instead of working in the academia, he opted to write popular history books about them. He is also the mentor of
Kyogoku Natsuhiko. Kyogoku Natsuhiko, whom you may have heard from various anime adaptations, is a writer of supernatural mysteries. ZUN hasn't said much about it, but Kyogoku's works, especially his definition of youkai as arising from human imagination and memories, are a huge influence on the metaphysics of Touhou universe. It's harder to gauge how much Akaishi has influenced Touhou, but he's definitely not someone to be overlooked.
BTW, "Akaishi Sanjin" is a pen name. 散人 ?sanjin?, literally "unbound person", in traditional East Asian culture, is a person who lives freely, unwilling to climb the social ladders by becoming an official. Many scholars use this word in their pen names. It's also the exact word I've always used to describe ZUN.
==================
ZUN's
blog update:
The discs have been delivered
The CDs for tomorrow's Reitaisai release are done.
Of course I totally haven't replaced it with my Buddhist chanting CD by mistake.
Now I won't be going to Reitaisai empty-handed.
The price is 300 yen~ Don't make me give you changes, (especially newcomers should take notice)
Then he tweeted:
ZUN: No idea why it's Sakuya.
ZUN: I'm already feeling the fulfillment at the end of a con now.
==================
HM updates: according to Unabara's tweets at this moment
-When making today's build, they discovered a critical ("nuclear landmine") bug.
-1 hour ago as of this post, they had just completed the unexpected heavy work to fix it.
-They will issue a patch tomorrow.
-Of course the promised gameplay video isn't happening.