I enjoyed trying to translate all the quotes in my 2021 Hobonichi, so I decided to do it again this year. This thread is mainly here to keep me honest, but I would also love to hear other peopleâs interpretations
January
January cover page
You are like a meteor, cutting up the night sky. Your run is like a cold silver stream. Ah, you are shining. I can see the path you ran glowing white.
January 1
I expressly want to make time to write in my notebook. Not just to write in my notebook, but also to write letters and to organise my thoughts. About 2 hours several times a week. I like that sort of âexpresslyâ.
January 2
Both my planisphere and my binoculars are my accomplices when I am looking up at the stars. The Orion Nebula, the stars of the Milky Way, Comet Hale-Bopp that leaves a trail or the total solar eclipse I saw in Egypt. It was my binoculars that I looked through while moved to tears. It brought my eyes a little closer to the stars for me. As for my planisphere, you can look up constellations at an instant with a smartphone app these days, but it makes me excited to line up the time and date by spinning it around.
January 3
The word âself-affirmationâ is often talked about and I want to celebrate a newly arrived year with self-affirmation to begin with as well. I think itâs ok for everyone to have hopes. That is what the words âHappy new year!â, which people say in unison when the year is renewed, are about, right?
January 4
After thinking âI canât run away anymoreâ one year after my debut, when I was 17, I, âthe insiderâ, began producing. I felt something like âIf I canât run away anymore anyway, why not create the image of a girl Iâve never seen beforeâ and I thought âLetâs create a girl who makes me feel reliefedâ.
January 5
When we look at all living beings in various ways, there are two very mysterious questions:
Diversity = Why is there so much of it?
Adaptability = Why is it working so well?
January 6
I also think that feelings of love are there in order to watch over that person. I donât just love the bright parts of that person; the fact that I am interested in the gloomy parts shows a feeling of âOf all the people I have met in this world, this person is an important person, so I should cherish them and thus I should watch over them.â
January 7
When I reject an idea that I have noted down, if itâs on my phone, it doesnât leave a trace once I delete it, but if itâs handwritten, I cross it out on top with a pen, so some traces remain. [A sense of] âHm? What did I reject againâŠ?â is left behind. Actually, those [notes] sometimes end up becoming important in the future.
January 8
If the first stroke is wrong, it means there is a discrepancy between my own thoughts. It wonât develop well in the end. If Iâm able to write well at the start, even there is some slight inconsistency midway, I am able to absorb those mistakes. Because calligraphy is like life, you can recover some mistakes afterward. But if you make a blunder at the start, itâs clumsy to keep on writing that way.
January 9
My friend said, looking happy: âThe other day there was a lottery at the shops. My daughter won! Return tickets to Disneyland!â Return ticketsâŠ? After a momentâs silence I errupted in laughter. The right phrase was âpair ticketsâ.
January 10
People who donât lose the key to the realm of their childâs heart, are able to continue visiting a certain place of eternity even when they have become adults. That key, so to speak, is the feeling of continuing to ask âwhat is important to me?â. If you have that, you can advance to an even deeper place in that world of value. Further ahead, every time you gain a year.
January 11
The feeling of âloveâ is an amazing thing. âLoveâ is each personâs most valuable treasure. I feel like even if youâve lost every conceivable thing, if there is âloveâ, you can live from that. Donât you think it would be nice to write about âloveâ in oneâs notebook every day?
January 12
I think that when [people] tell me their worries, thatâs the moment I receive their approval as a human being. Peopleâs stories, worries, love advice, work advice⊠I also love listening to my friendsâ life advice. I am very happy I can get the time to think about other peopleâs lives. While I am asking them about their worries, there are also times when I think âAh, I wasnât paying attention to thatâ, so it is a very good influence. Itâs delightful to be able to be besides other peopleâs lives.
January 13
I am weaving words. Textile and adaptations seem like they overlap. You canât weave only the vertical threads first, and you also canât weave the horizontal threads later. The fact that it takes time is similar too.
January 14
In the Hyakunin Isshu there are words that occur often. Sea and river, and wind as well. Snow. Morning sun, evening sun. And the moon. The moon was awfully frequent. There mustnât have been anything to do in the evenings, huh? Because, in an era where the things one saw were limited, everyone looked at the same things and composed poetry, you really needed talent. If you think of it like that, the Hyakunin Isshu is close to a 性ćć©. âHow good of an answer can you give to a common question?â
January 15
After all, âdifficultyâ is mostly a subjective impression, in my opinion.
January 16
If bugs or animals are living in the place where they are living now, theyâll probably have food and there are no unknown dangers, but for some reason there are certainly people people who fly far away, right? Even if 99.999% feel like they want to stay in their current place, just 0.001% go out into an unknown world for the purpose of hedging their bets for the survival of their breed.
January 17
How many people do I currently admire? And assuming I admire them, to what extent do I trace their outline in order for me to become like that as well? People stop growing when they stop admiring [others].
January 18
I feel like I calm myself down by drawing. Like I am resetting my feelings. By drawing, I am having a conversation with my other self. I am confronting my inner part, my feelings. Because I think that there are probably times when the thing I am drawing now is not something I am thinking of myself, or when itâs linked to some other personâs work.
January 19
I got a piece of the Berlin Wall from my mother, who said âWhen I was tidying the kitchen, this fell behind a shelf.â Why would such a thing fall in a kitchen?
January 20
After all, rugby is a sport that places the most importance on variety. If you stop with scrums and line-outs, almost all are athletes with a similar body type. Itâs the sort of sport where variety is the main principle and that anyone can do without puting on defensive armour. The first established rule is that you can play freely regardless of nationality.
January 21
Itâs something I learned from Tanosan. âItâs a lucky thing to have a place where youâre nervousâ. Because you canât be serious about a job youâre not nervous about and you wonât really prepare ahead of time.
January 22
If we assume a human life to be 100 years and a treeâs life to be 3000 years, trees live 30 times as long as humans. That means a treeâs time passes 1/30th as quickly as a humanâs time. If thatâs so, our 30 years are a treeâs 1 year. 1 year corresponds to 12 days, 1 month to 1 day, 1 day to 48 minutes, our 1 hour to a treeâs 2 minutes. If you think about it like that, you come to understand why humans hurriedly try to rush through their lives and why trees look to us to be relaxing.
January 23
There is no such thing as a ânatural eye = ojective eyeâ that is not connected to anyoneâs mind. Because seeing is already an activity of the mind.
January 24
In rakugo, it is said that one stage performance is more important than 100 practice runs. However, isnât there another necessary thing besides practice and performances? I had a conversation with a senpai about whether there isnât a need for meaningless dressing room talk and meaningless closing party talk. Rakugo story tellers do their work alone, but many of them lonely, arenât they?
January 25
A confidential matter is a secret of yours alone, that you donât tell to anyone and donât show to anyone. When I say my lines, it would be nice if I could have such a âsecretâ of mine alone. It would be pure joy when I perform.
January 26
For my first trip abroad I went to England and I saw an old teddy bear in some place like a museum. At the time, I thought âThis is not the time for me to be doing such things!â. Since then I made up my mind, quit the company and started attending teddy bear classes while working part-time. I think that âloveâ has never changed, because of the sense that I continue to this day due to those days at teddy bear class.
January 27
I was working part-time at a book shop. I was asked by a customer âDo you have the first, middle and last volume of a book called such-and-such?â and when I had looked it up, I turned to the waiting customer, because it was in stock, and said with a loud voice: âSir, the large, medium and small are all in stock!â
January 28
When I am thinking about something, I eliminate my own individuality and I think âWhat if I hurl question A at this response, make counterargument B and give a new response like C or Dâ like Iâm in a debate. It feels like I am developing my answer. If I make A an absolute and only think of response A all the time, thatâs where I stop, so I incorporate different perspectives as much as possible and donât ever deny my individuality. Thatâs what itâs like.
January 29
If it becomes more fascinating, then it doesnât necessarily need to be faithful to the original picture. The original picture is nothing more than a reference point; there is not really any need to make it like the original picture.
January 30
âA tes souhaitsâ means something like âMay your wishes come trueâ. In France one says this phrase to someone when they have sneezed. âA tes souhaitsâ for people you are on familiar terms with; âA vos souhaitsâ for superiors and people you are not that familiar with. People who are told it respond with âMerciâ.
January 31
âMaybe I should try singing for myselfâ. Thatâs how I felt. Thatâs right. It wasnât for anyone else. I sang it for myself.
February
February cover page
It was raining. Big and heavy snowflakes were pouring down as if they were sinking into the cold air. Looking up to the heavens, the sky was white and in it innumerable faint silhouettes of grey were blurred.
February 1
If my future âmeâ were to be grateful to my current âmeâ, what would it say thank you for? That is âwhat I can doâ now, letâs think of that.
February 2
I try to think of bad things once bad things have happened. Itâs a competitive world, so given the circumstances both good things and bad things happen. Even if it turns out for the worse, thereâs no use complaining about it. Because if itâs after the game has ended, or even if itâs during the game, it is in the past. Even if itâs 3 minutes ago, itâs in the past.
February 3
âThinkingâ and âbeing biasedâ are two sides of the same coin. No, rather, they are equivalents. Thereâs this opinion, and thereâs that opinion; if you put them all on equal footing, what would happen? You couldnât call that âthinkingâ.
February 4
At the Sochi Olympics, due to my camera positioning, I couldnât photograph Hanyuuâs performance from a camera position in the front. I was at the top of the audience seats and when I tried to take a picture from a distance of him unfurling the flag, Hanyuu came skating over with a smile, possibly because there was just someone he knew on the side of the audience seats. At that point he wasnât very good at unfurling the flag yet, but for that mere moment where he came to our side, the Japanese flag was dancing in the wind and I managed to capture that instant.
February 5
If I were to speak figuratively, âliteratureâ is in contradiction with âknowing a city that no one knowsâ. Even though no one has seen it yet, there are people walking around. There are people living there. Itâs such a lie.
February 6
âStone rubbingâ means âapplying paper to the characters that are engraved onto monuments and such, and making a duplicate by rubbing over the top with sumiâ. It was my grandfatherâs hobby and I thought that I, being his grandson, would one day have to take over. So finally, once I obtained some simple sumi for stone rubbing and started ârubbingâ, whenever I discovered uneven signboards all over town, I started getting turned on profusely like âI wanna rub itâ. Iâm spending my daily life nonchalantly making sure with my finger whether characters that catch my eye are uneven.
February 7
When you try to turn on a snowboard, if you try to turn suddenly and forcefully, youâll fall over, right? Thatâs why, that feeling where you arrive at your intended destination by slowly and widely changing your direction, like âahh, Iâm turningâ, while looking into the distance, such a feeling is ideal for me.
February 8
The reality is that work is rapidly being mechanised and it wonât come round to me [anymore]. But, feeling that I had to do my best and change my outlook at a time like this, I wrote âopportunity is a pinchâ in big letters with an ultra thick marker and put it in front of my work desk. Until I had my mistake pointed out to me by my daughter, I really hadnât noticed⊠My determination to turn a pinch into an opportunity looks like itâs breaking.
February 9
I am sometimes told by people âyouâre luckyâ, but I donât think so myself. But thereâs something Iâve learned by looking at other people. Lucky people are without a doubt cheerful people. Cheerful people have a high likelihood of being treated kindly by people.
February 10
Eupatorium with yellowed leaves is written about in the Manyoushuu. There is a preface where empress Kouken [in classical Japanese] âplucked a stalk of Sawa-Araragi (Eupatorium) and wrote a poemâ and âI wonder if there is always frost in this village. The grass I saw in the fields of summer had turned yellow like the leaves of autumn.â A poem like âHad there been frost in this village, I wondered. Even though it was summer, the grass I saw had a colour like autumn leaves.â This has been determined to be the worldâs oldest record of a virus.
Because thatâs why the leaves are yellow: due to a viral infection.
February 11
There are people you âget along withâ, even though your opinions might differ, your tastes might differ, or your values might differ. When I try to think what that means, it might be that our sense of embarrassment is alike?
February 12
People are not impressed by a sloppy 70 from a person who has the capacity for a 100. On the other hand, when a person who has the capacity for a 60 exerts themselves for their personal best of 60 and goes beyond oneself, with complete devotion, overcoming their limits, and approaches 61, his expression flourishes. The people who see it are deeply moved, as if their heart is shaken and their soul is being released. People donât want to see something thatâs âskillfulâ, but something that is âbraveâ. I think they want to see people having courage and blooming with a force that awakens them to their potential power.
February 13
Whether itâs in the middle of a deep, dark forest or the beach of an isolated island, floating on the ocean, there is always one person who is your supporter. Look out over your surroundings and around you. Your biggest support is that person who is looking around.
February 14
I believed that if I made good chocolate it would sell, but thatâs not what the customers wanted. I wanted something that is easy to get to in Tokyo, on a stylish street corner, with a shop interior with a pleasant atmosphere, unexpected, delicious, with cute packaging, that also keeps a long time and that is gratefully accepted if you give it to friends. Itâs not like I adopt all of these things, but I have come to put myself in my customersâ shoes instead of my own.
February 15
Really, everyone becomes someone elseâs strength just by being alive, donât they? Itâs just that you donât realise that just by being there you are supporting someone, isnât it?
February 16
Usually, even if I thought âah!â, I would move on and leave that thought as is, but [now] I stop in my tracks and think âah, maybe thisâll be a poemâ. Then, I look for the words. Such moments being created is what makes me think âwriting tanka is the bestâ. I think that it, in short, ends up being âliving life thoroughlyâ. Thatâs why creating tanka really is savouring life thoroughly, spending time thoroughly, that sort of pursuit.
February 17
I often lose things. The other day at the company my stamp was missing. Anywhere I looked, it wasnât there. My junior colleague at the desk to me, who saw me looking troubled, is a mother of three. She gently said to me: âDid you pon pon your pocket?â She was very embarrassed.
February 18
Even if I recommend to someone to watch Kita No Kuni Kara, I really donât think they would watch it. I get it [when I look at it] from the opposite perspective. Because I do that as well; Iâll actually think that something that came recommended on âAmetaaalk!â looks interesting, but forget about it the next day.
February 19
Speaking of a âgood companyâ, you need to have the phrase âfor someoneâ in your head. In short, no matter how âgoodâ a company is said to be by people, if it isnât âa good company for youâ, thatâs no good in my opinion.
February 20
Itâs not like I went to the actual site wanting to shoot winning scenes. Iâve been going to the Olympics for a long time, but, you know, itâs a âdesire to see it with my own eyesâ. Itâs not wanting to celebrate them winning together or mourn them losing, but a desire to see their prospects with my own eyes, not knowing what will happen next.
February 21
Though one might say âletâs have imaginationâ, there is no such thing as perfect imagination. While I donât understand everything, I try to keep in mind that I want to remember that my world cuts out just a small part of the real world. Such a simple imagination is more necessary than a perfect imagination.
February 22
Dogs often come over when they see their owners, but cats arenât like that. Cats have very good ears. Humans have a hearing range of up to about 20,000Hz, but cats can hear up to 100,000Hz. Cats read humansâ emotions. If theyâre not there and you call their name with an anxious state of mind, cats also become anxious. Theyâll be even less likely to come out. Thatâs why âhow to be relaxed when you call themâ is important.
February 23
So at concerts I am already âmemory lapse Nakajimaâ. Just as a I draw in a breath to start singing, I forget. Because the applause would come in, right, like âweâve been waiting!â. Hahaha. Afterwards, the fans would share information among themselves: âshe forgot this part todayâ.
February 24
If there is one thing makes me feel happy that I chose to go into design, it is that I can experience âthe unknownâ. Unknown movies, unknown novels, unknown art. I am sometimes able to feel like the world is still full of interesting things. Itâs one after another, that kind of thing. So long as I donât stop searching by myself, [I will] undoubtedly [be able to find them] until I die.
February 25
If it were only for my own sake, I wouldnât be able to feel pain. However, when you think that there are 14 other teammates in front of and behind you, when you think that there are people in the audience who are cheering for you, [and] you put your body on the line against better judgment, thatâs rugby.
February 26
In the movie After the Storm, Kirin Kiki featured in the role of an elderly lady. Kirin Kiki, when told that âI respect my grandmotherâ, responds with âIf youâre going to respect someone anyway, make it Mother Teresa or so-and-so (ăȘăăĄăă) the astronaut or someone.â This ăȘăăĄăă is not even in the latest dictionaries.
February 27
Being able to do really interesting things was, honestly, because it had nothing to do with money. Whether itâs Tadanori Yokoo or Makoto Wada, the works that everyone thinks of as their most important work are the ones that have nothing to do with money.
February 28
There is something I understood once I started working with dog sleds. Bringing in our own methods and tools is an affront to the culture of the actual location. The methods that have been cultivated by the local nature are ultimately more suitable for local ventures. By using the products of that place, there is a feeling of acceptance by the people of that place.
March
March cover page
It is spring, when bracken by a waterfall that flows over rocks starts to sprout.
I found this modern Japanese rephrasing:
ćČ©ăźäžăæżăăæ”ăăæ»ăźă»ăšăă§ăŻăăăăăłăèœăćșăæ„ă«ăȘăŁăăăšă ăȘăă
March 1
I think itâs alright if my characters arenât liked by everyone. So long as the people who like them like them. Because I think that both humans and characters each have good points and bad points, and itâs good if they match the people they meet.
March 2
In this current age, where we have smartphones and are connected by the internet, we canât experience the solitude that I used to experience anymore. Because SNS and smartphones came out right after the end of that, that was really the last solitude on earth, I think. I am a bit envious of my solitude around that time.
March 3
When âpeople who loveâ with imagination gather in an open âspace where there is nothingâ, âPLAY = theatreâ begins. That is the kind of theatre I want to do. I want to do it on the full scale of humankind. But the capacity of my heart is small, and my head, hands and feet are riddled with things I canât do. Perhaps I am really bad at it, but I want to became a director of love. It might be difficult at first, but I want to change little by little.
March 4
I spritzed an orange-scented aroma spray in the genkan. I was happy that the genkan smelled nice, so I said to my husband who had come home: âThe orange, it smells of genkan, right?!â ⊠Thatâs not the kind of orange I like!
March 5
Progress in dance always stagnates a bit. When that happens, the person in question also starts getting fed up with it, but if they still continue to do their best, your substance will become ever more full during that time. Then, on a certain day it will suddenly flower and âboomâ, you get better. Thatâs why [the question of] how to bear such a period of levelling off is important.
March 6
If you make a strong attack right from the start, your opponent will keep his distance and move away. When that happens, the fight itself will not take place. First, you get your opponent to think of you as âeasy to getâ. That is also one of the most important tactics.
March 7
I was asked by my wife âthis job, will you be doing it forever? I can already see how it will turn out in 30 years.â I was told things like: âYouâll work hard until the retirement age and then thatâs it.â âThatâs no fun.â âDonât you think a parent figure is important for a childâs growth?â âIt is a fatherâs role to be able to act in various capacitiesâ. So I quit my job and from 2010 onwards, at the age of 30, I started taking pictures.
Based on the original interview, it seems like itâs his wife saying all of these things to him, even though the punctuation might suggest it is a conversation. I also found éąšăćčăă a challenging phrase to translate.
March 8
âDoing nothingâ itself became a reward for me. Itâs not about money; there are many things included within âdoing nothingâ and I felt that all the things I experienced were the reward.
ăăȘăăăăȘăăăăšèȘäœăćă«ăšăŁăŠăŻć ±é Źă«ăȘăŁăŠăăăă§ăăăăăŻăéăăăȘăăŠăäœăăăȘăăăšăźäžă«ăăăăć«ăŸăăŠăăŠăç”éšăăăăšć šéšăć ±é ŹăšăăŠæăăăăŸăăă
March 9
I was apparently the worst at drawing at the company entrance exam. But they appreciated the fact that I had come from New York even though I had no place to go, and they hired me. In my impulsive behaviour, they saw a potential that might grow in the future. Thatâs why, when I am hiring people, getting more associates, I also put more importance on the attitude and behaviour, what kind of person it is, than on their manual skills or their school grades.
March 10
I learned a lot of things from the people of Touhokuâs Kesennuma. The year of the earthquake disaster, they really kept company with us, strangers who had come from afar, from the bottom of their hearts. Itâs something that started from sadness, but now it has grown into an even greater joy.
March 11
If I were asked if Kesennuma is recovering, I wouldnât be able to answer. But the people who live there are doing well. Expressions like âdoing their bestâ or âworking hardâ donât even feel right. They are sharing their energy, their love, their delicious food with us. Fortunately, even though we canât change the past, people can change their way of perceiving it. The people I met during this trip are people who have changed their past not into anger or hatred, but into kindness and love.
March 12
I have always doubted that I have talent. Thatâs why I think I have the qualifications to try my hand at the acting business. I donât know if I have talent or not. I think there is probably more room for growth with that mindset.
March 13
Whether it is a crucian carp, a bantam, or whatever, I want to visualise somehow that grinding feeling of a life struggling in my two hands. However small of a life I am holding, the strength, the humorous side, and, more than anything, the sexual sensation. And the sadness, the misery. Like that, everything that life holds is struggling in my own hands. Thatâs what I want to express in my drawings.
March 14
If the creator isnât having fun, that comes across. I feel that manga is possessed by something, so if itâs a manga that was drawn while [the mangaka] wasnât enjoying themselves, or a manga that was drawn reluctantly, I think itâs better not to draw it at all.
March 15
I once asked an architectural planner âIs it possible to design an alley it is pleasant to be in?â Sure enough, they said thatâs difficult. Because alleys are accumulations of things that invidiuals consider interesting. There is a tedium of things that more people find intersting.
March 16
An older brother (10) asked his younger brother (6): âDo you know the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper?â The younger brother: âAh, that Grasshopper, wasnât he the guy that was stirring things up?â. Was their motherâs style of reading to them that boorish?
March 17
Life is very unclear. It always goes in unforeseen directions. For example, even if you start a band, it might end up being different from the direction you had originally thought of. Someone doesnât join, someone else does join, a succession of such things. So donât plan. If you make plans, it usually ends up no good. For example, making a plan and then someone is suddenly paying money [for it], that never happens.
March 18
I am careful not to make my head about something for 100%. Itâs not a good thing, â100% of somethingâ. Whether that is âloveâ or âworkâ. It means that if you lose it, what is left is empty. It is probably a relationship like some sort of addiction.
March 19
I believe there is nothing so helpful to people as the feeling of being needed by people. I think the question of âwhy do people work?â has been thought about since way back, but I wonder if we donât all work, for one thing, in order to be needed by someone.
March 20
Part-time workers being able to work enjoyably, I think thatâs the number one thing that makes a store lively. What is interesting about Village Vanguard is the fact that pointless ideas are born in our spare time and we serve useless things to our customers.
March 21
Motoyoshiâs âI would like to see you, even if I destroy myselfâ. If I were to put it in todayâs words, itâd be âEven if I had to risk my life, even if it destroys me, I want to see youâ. If you put it into writing, it is a very direct love letter. It is a phrase as beautiful as a jewel, that we can understand even today, like a crystallisation of oneâs whole heart, like âcould I say more in 31 morae?â.
March 22
Like breathing air and eating food, the only way I know how to live is to live life while doing theatre itself. I have done theatre for so many months and years already, and I have related to society and looked at the future through theatre.
March 23
Falling into tragedy, like âMy life is no good anymore!â is really easy. It is also surprisingly simple to turn it into a comedy by disregarding various things, like âAnyway, letâs pursue fun things!â. But if you donât have a tenacious mentality, it is difficult to accept tragedy and comedy at the same time.
March 24
A drive with my husband. Next thing I know, weâre in the area where Tamorisan had wandered. Unable to wait, I wanted to say it before my husband did, so I said without thinking: âThis, this is where Burari was tamotamoâing!â ⊠I let myself be influenced by the name of the programme.
She had wanted to say ăăăăăăăżăąăȘăăă©ăă©ăăŠăăăïŒ
March 25
What Osamu Hashimoto did was a way of fighting like making the âTrojan Horseâ of Greek mythology. He tried making a strange, mysterious thing and leaving it outside the castle walls. The enemies, wondering âwhatâs this?â bring it back into the castle. When that happens, itâs ours. Before the enemies notice, the castle walls have collapsed⊠Common knowledge and fixed ideas youâd think were impregnable are overturned. The way society is seen is changed.
March 26
I get nervous in situations that impact winning or losing, but as long as Iâve made preparations, I become able to see my surroundings and keep my feeling of tension in check. I wonder if I didnât want to calm myself down by getting ready in advance especially on days when I was in bad shape.
March 27
If foreign material gets into an Akoya pearl oyster and it canât spit it out, it spends a lot of time trying to wrap that foreign substance, giving form to mother of pearl, and it produces a pearl. Not just oysters; I hope that humans, too, are able to imitate the Akoya pearl oyster, covering the sadness and grief inside of them with their own feelings, wrapping them, and sublimating them into beautiful inner feelings, like a pearl.
March 28
There is nothing that surpasses being good [at it], but I donât think there is any necessity for being good [at it]. There are many things that are more important than that.
March 29
I think I can have a core within myself. To that end, I put âmy joyâ into words precisely, like âI want to do this and thatâ. When I do that, even in cases when I think âman, I canât do thisâ, I can come back to âhang on, if I could do this, itâd make me happyâ.
March 30
While seems that weâre looking at the same thing, we are probably all taking in something different. That may be a bit fact, but itâs a bit of a lonely fact. Thatâs why humans join hands and sing the same song. They also deliberately seek out the same place and stick together.
March 31
Looking at it from a bit of a distance, I thought âhow will people from the same generation feel good?â. In order words, I was thinking not adults, but of people from my own generation. There is one more thing that has become a guiding principle. I am originally from Atsugi in Kanagawa prefecture, and I wanted to become the sort of girl of whom my hometown friends would say âShe did well!â.
April
April cover page
Passing by Gion towards Kiyomizu on a moonlit sakura evening; all the people I meet this evening are beautiful.
A modern rephrasing might look like this:
ăæž æ°Žă«èĄăăăšç„ćăéăéăăăšăæĄăćČăèȘăæ§æć€ăä»ć€ăăăĄăăäșșă ăŻăèȘ°ăăżăȘçŸăăèŠăăŸăăă
April 1
In my own viewpoint, âthings to protectâ have always been a sort of personal guideline. Or like a personal creed. On occasion it degenerates into a jinx, or maybe a pilchardâs head. If I may make a further remark, you should mercilessly ask yourself questions like âwhat is the aim?â or âwhat is the reason I thought that just now?â and to face the answers to them, even if itâs painful.
I imagine the pilchard head is related to this expression.
April 2
Donât compare it to ordinary times. Donât compare it to the past. Donât compare it to the future. At any rate, donât compare anything to âthe presentâ. Fix your gaze on âthe presentâ that is right in front of you.
April 3
You shouldnât go into a match doubting yourself, you shouldnât think about the result when it hasnât occurred. A player with a with that doubts himself will only have difficult thoughts under pressure. You need to face the battle without doubting anything for at least the 2,5 or 3 hours that a game lasts, like âletâs go!â, without doubting yourself or your team. I think itâs important to face a match like: âI did as much as I humanly could; the rest is up to Godâ.
April 4
I guess youâre a âwifeâ when you no longer listen to what I say. Because while you do listen to me, youâre a âloverâ.
April 5
I am always taking out my camera outside. Just because there is some extra effort taking it out of my bag, it makes me unable to take pictures. I think itâs very important to be freed from that hassle. I think itâs best to take the lens cap off as well. When I buy a camera, the first thing I do is throw away the lens cap.
April 6
Letâs admire. Letâs praise. Letâs rejoice. Letâs try becoming ladies and gentlemen. Letâs be loved. Letâs love. Letâs persevere in losing weight. Letâs dance. Letâs be surprised. Letâs encourage. Letâs help. Letâs console. Letâs treat someone to a meal. Letâs make some laugh. Letâs imagine. Letâs dream. Letâs play. Letâs sing. Letâs draw. In short, each of these is something that produces good ideas.
April 7
Making it just as delicious, is actually very difficult. It is positively impossible to keep it tasting the same without coming up with some kind of plan. Just making it the same way as usual definitely doesnât make it as delicious.
April 8
This is a story about my senpai. During cleaning time she was carrying a bucket, tripped on a banana peel that had fallen and fell! Then, a few words: âYou really do step if you slip on a banana peel!â. Senpai, that isnât quite right.
April 9
We canât think without biases, and biases are created through thinking. We take action with our thoughts, gather information with our thoughts and develop towards the next thought with the gathered information. We pile bias upon bias. That is what it means to think and that is what it means to grow.
April 10
âSolvingâ maths questions is important, but [knowing] âhow do I solve it?â is even more important. It is important that people who have seen the solution can apply it to other [questions], like âif I can use this method, I could probably also use this methodâ.
April 11
I had been told by the doctor that I had an attack of gout and I had come home limping. My daughter asked âwhatâs wrong?â, and when I answered âmy leg hurtsâ, she said âwell, Iâll put a band-aid on itâ. I peeled off the band-aid my daughter had stuck on me and stuck it in my notebook.
April 12
If you think about notebooks or pocket diaries, those who use them have one more chance to have fun than those who donât, right?
April 13
If a television drama episode doesnât progress at a suitable pace, it becomes dull. However, in manga, even if an exchange is wordy, it can still be interesting. Thatâs why, if you put a manga development onto the screen as is, perhaps because the flow of time is entirely different, various things feel strangly long. Doesnât it sometimes feel like âthe story isnât progressing at all, is it?â when you watch a drama that was originally a manga?
April 14
Gaining wisdom systematically. This is something very important that one can do at university. On the other hand, what you learn in the city is to know your customers. Also, how to make friends.
April 15
I was not fit to be an actor and my paintings and photographs were also not very good, but when I put it all together, something that doesnât exist anywhere was created. I have called it, arbitrarily, a âtriathlon of beautyâ. In paintings, I am no match for a painter, in photographs no match for a photographer and in acting no match for an actor, but I understood that if only I acted like the ââ that brings them together, the âme who is at a lossâ, I could do anything.
April 16
You donât need any materials. You can do it whenever, wherever. It doesnât take any money. Even if there is no one to help, you can do it alone. That is: thinking.
April 17
There is a phrase âAction always beats reactionâ, which means âdonât wait for the other party to do something, start first.â I think that doing what you want done first is an important principle common to sports, business and day to day communication.
April 18
âIt was warm today huh?â, my senpai said at work. âYeah, there were even people wearing a T-shirt or boxersâ I said. â⊠boxers, thatâs messed upâ. Ah, no, I meant to say âtank topâ!
April 19
In waka, an experience that everyone shares is composed. Thatâs why they all write about the same topic. Itâs a world they have in common. This is very Japanese. Abroad, poems are not composed in a shared world. Thatâs because poems are centered around the individual. Only being able to write about yourself is the focus of [that kind of] poetry.
April 20
When you put nature in front of you, you run out of spare time. Now, even in this instant, in front of my eyes a lot of life is energetically squirming about like always. That appearance and activity gives me a lot of excitement all over my body.
April 21
Itâs better to make promises. To your baby, to you dog or to yourself. When you have properly made a promise and you try to keep it, your fingertips will become skilfull, your legs will become sturdy, your eyes will become better, your head will work better. Thatâs right. You will become a person who can keep a promise.
April 22
Handicrafts are unchanging and strong, I thought. If only there is work, you can do it at home. It is a matter of during it while it is light out. You can work by the cycle of the sun. Once again I feel like people who do handicrafts are awesome.
April 23
If anything, my appartment was like his appartment since he had moved in, and I was like a tenant living together in his place. The appartment was comfortably cluttered and I had the joy of unlikely things in unexpected places, even in the refrigerator.
April 24
I do my work individually. Because my work of drawing pictures is done at home, what I pay attention to is that I make sure to get up in the morning and get changed and dress properly.
April 25
There is a battle to decide âThis is amusing, this is not amusingâ and someone wins it. The amusingness that wins is considered to be the correct one, but the amusingness that has lost is also an amusingness that actually exists, so which one is superior canât really be decided, can it?
April 26
If you are able to perceive the next ten yearsăŒonce you turn 30 years old until 40 years, once you turn 40 years old until 50 yearsăŒlike âthey will become even more fun than theyâve been so farâ, thatâs excellent. To be honest, I am looking forward to the next 10 years. The past is fully over. What comes next is awesome.
April 27
When I try to perform solely subjectively, I will definitely fail. Why? Because the role isnât me. Iâm afraid that only my own thoughts get into the role. I listen to the opinions from my director and various people and get their advice. If I donât do that, the role will turn into me. If itâs âjust meâ there are limits. The role isnât me and I donât compare myself and the role whatsoever.
April 28
In exploration, when you withdraw, you withdraw thoroughly. Of course it is important to overcome the difficulties in front of you, but in order to survive, if you donât know when to withdraw, you die. So long as you survive by not doing the impossible and withdrawing, there will definitely be another chance.
April 29
I had cut my hair. When I said âWhen I woke up this morning I looked like Sariichanâs dadâ at work, my subordinate said âWhat does that mean?â. Ehh⊠I am sorry, but youâll have to do a quick image search.
April 30
In the art of theatre, people who live in the ânowâ, including the audience, staff and actors, share the time of the performance. The audience who are all gathered at the start of the show and the actors are people who equally own the time called ânowâ in common. That is why the theatre has words that reverberate more than any other media.
May
May cover page
I am a grass. I try to grow.
When I can grow, I try to grow.
On days I canât grow, I donât grow.
On days I can grow, I grow.
May 1
I think thatâs all we can do. Creating opportunities, opening doors, thatâs the job of the performance arts.
May 2
When I go abroad, little by little I buy paints in colours I like. Iâve liked painting ever since I was a kid. When in primary school we were evacuated to the countryside, and when I brought my cherished watercolours and painted a picture, my schoolteacher gave me drawing paper, which was very precious at the time, saying âBecause you really like painting, Nakajou-kunâ. Ever since, even now, Iâve been painting.
May 3
We probably operate under the desire of âI want to leave something behindâ or âI want to remain in someoneâs memoriesâ. We want to do something that âremains steadily in someoneâs lifeâ. I think we want people to remember it.
May 4
The activity that has become the pillar of my home life is âweedingâ. Chameleon plant, horsetail, chickweed, ferns, creeping woodsorrel⊠When I pull them out, pull them out, over and over, I come to feel refreshed. When I focus on the sight of ants digging in the soil, making a nest, or on the grass and ants in front of me, I can expell the daysâ various matters and worries from my mind.
May 5
Itâs good to have a small child near me. When a week passes, she has already grown. Just by thinking that humans have such a phase, courage wells up in those who see it. That kid loves being alive for sure.
May 6
A large-scale strike is annoying, but what I admire is that people are used to dealing with them, because France is of course a country of strikes. They think about whether there are means [of transport] besides the transit system. They think about by what route they can get somewhere the fastest. If there is no transit system, theyâll walk however many hours. If itâs no problem, they take time off work. They get angry, but no one vents their anger towards the strike. After all, theyâre a country of strikes.
May 7
You canât find âa job only you can doâ. But you can create a job. You should think of it not as âtakingâ a fixed job, but as changing a pre-existing job and âmakingâ a new one. Even if itâs not the job you wanted to do.
May 8
My mum showed me the contents of her notebook while laughing, but I felt like I was looking at the preparations for the end of my mumâs life and it felt indescribable. But my mum says quite indifferently: "What I noticed as I continued writing, is that both the everyday life of myself and my family, and the days I spent with my parents who are gone continue to be connected and will continue. Targeting not an âendingâ that will come one day, but a âfutureâ that will come one day, I made sure to write the necessary information in my notebook so as to make sure things are not difficult for my family.
May 9
That time the post office guy delivered a package to me. I was told âSign here pleaseâ, and though I wanted to ask âWith my full name?â, for some reason I asked this: âWith my real name?â. The man said âWell, of courseâ. Thatâs right.
May 10
There are many girls around me who are cute, though they arenât models, but you can depend on them, they have substance and a good [personality] coming forth from within. Precisely because it is taken for granted that models are cute, they have to go higher and higher. But what comes forth from the inside is also important for a girl, I think. It would be good if I could learn that from cute girls who do other work.
May 11
Fishing boats are an operation. You have to decide things like the price of gasoline, the market price of fish, when to go out and come back in a split second. You also need the courage to give up even when you couldnât catch anything at all. You have to manage however many fishermen. I think they are people who can make it through no matter what happens.
May 12
A pitcher winning one game⊠well, itâs so joyous, you could call it the happiest thing in my life. Itâs truly a blessing. Winning is the happiest thing in life. Current athletes who are called âacesâ probably also make plays feeling the joy of winning, and batters, too, how happy would they be if they contribute to winning and can become heroes?
May 13
As you are wearing the same clothes for many years, they have a way of being remembered from a material point of view such as âclothing from when I had these memoriesâ. It changes from matter into memory. I want people to feel such a transformation.
May 14
Getting up early in the morning, wielding a saw or hammer while getting covered in sawdust and dust, getting small cuts on my fingertips, getting blisters on my hands. I am busy with the work, so naturally I get hungry. In the evening I fall asleep like Iâm melting while Iâm thinking about tomorrowâs work. Even if itâs not going well, I have no need to complain to anyone. I had long forgotten what joy that is.
May 15
Our own changes change people, and someone elseâs changes change us as well. We have the plasticity to change as much as we like, almost daily, as long as we are willing to change. Both progress and growth are representations of âchangeâ.
May 16
When I am singing a song, I reach a state of being a âtransparent tubeâ. What falls down from the sky, Once I have let what comes falling down from the sky pass through my body, I go on to communicate it to my audience⊠By doing so, I purify things such as worldly thoughts. To express it in an easy to understand way, I want to convey a sense of âI am happy to have been bornâ.
May 17
Even if the floor is densely packed, you can still enjoy the interior by the âwallsâ. So postcards or magazine clippings are fine. Even a small thing changes your mood well enough. The important thing is that you display things you like.
May 18
When you meet with someone or with a group, the thing that makes you feel terribly tired is that you may not be ânumber oneâ there. Itâs that you think about the person who is the self-proclaimed number one in that group, or about the person who is treated as the number one, âThis person isnât number one calibre by any stretch of the imagination.â For some reason such people have to aim at being number one as far as theyâre concerned.
May 19
He likes his older brother and thankfully heâll even happily wear his hand-me-downs, like âThese are big brotherâs! Can I wear them?â, but somehow he seemed to realise. At last, he said it: âAll I get are hand-me-downs!â
May 20
I donât really, particularly, how do I put it⊠write lyrics that are true to life. That is why you can take them in any which way. To some extent, itâs something I think I had better not interfere with. Because itâs not something that I should interpret in such a way.
May 21
Any job is fine by me. In any case, a job that I can do a bit comfortably, that pays as much as possible⊠Thatâs right, isnât it? I have never turned down any job other than bungee jumping.
May 22
Just chasing after the things you like simply feels like a waste. I think itâs fine to use people you admire in order to inspire yourself, to become energised. Itâs like a vitamin.
May 23
When I look at the actions of humans, they âshareâ when they are under a âroofâ. But, when you erect a âwallâ there, there is a tendency to âtell lies to each otherâ. I think itâs important to what extent we can be conscious of there being a âroofâ there, or in other words, âsharingâ.
May 24
Depending on various factors, like state of mind, physical strength or the season, you can see completely different things. I have summited both Denali and Everest two times, but they were completely different, and even if I climbed Fujisan 30 times, I would discover completely different things. That is the same in the streets of Tokyo as well, and that is why I can click my shutter.
May 25
Where there is nothing, there are no fish. Even where there seems to be nothing, there is something, for example there is a lot of oxygen, or the water temperature is just right, or smaller fish pass through. Birds, lizards, insects, humans, they are all in a place they have a reason to be.
May 26
Adding characters from the ă° row to characters one by one⊠I had mastered this âgameâ when I was 10 and I became able to add ă° row characters smoothly. Even now I can still do it smoothly, but sometimes I do something even sillier than when I was 10. I do it to English as well. I say âă°ăăăąăŒăăłă°â like âăă¶ăŁă©ăŒă»ăăŒăŒă«ăłăăă¶â. Naturally, people from the Anglosphere donât understand it.
May 27
âAssistanceâ is a temporary thing, and you canât keep doing it. If you donât switch over to âcheeringâ at some point, there will be mutual unhappiness.
May 28
For example, even though they are concerned about child abuse, if they are asked âcould you go into that abusive household and fix the parent-child relationshipâ, many people feel like âgovernment officials, go and do it properlyâ, because they think âI canât do such a thingâ. At The Childrenâs Cafeteria, I try to get them to think about it like âif itâs eating dinner together, I can do itâ. I think it is being easy-going that is very important.
May 29
This morningâs commute. In the middle of a full train, there was the ringtone of a phone: piropiropiro. The old man who answered to phone said quietly: âI am in the middle of a phone call right now, Iâll call you back when I get off the phone!â I think the other guy knew he was on the phone as well thoughâŠ
The joke being that he mixed up é»è©± and é»è».
May 30
I think I can assert that for most people, there is no such thing as âbeing cut out for somethingâ. Can I say something more fundamental? Itâs ok if youâre not cut out for or not good at something. Even when youâre not, you can still get by. At least, I donât have anything I am good at, rather, I have come to live as though I am fleeing from the things Iâm bad at. Maybe that is why it seems like the people who are bad at a lot of things are doing work theyâre cut out for.
May 31
I think that even in the age of Michelangelo, humans already experienced the beauty of abstract things. That is a shapeâs⊠At times, the beauty of âformâ surpasses even, for example, the beauty of a human body.
June
June cover page
When flower petals scatter, something gentle in the shape of the petals appears to gather there.
June 1
At the Van Gogh museum, I feel like I saw about a hundred self-portraits. I was immersed in Van Gogh. I thought it might change my style of painting, but I wasnât at the age where I could be influenced anymore.
June 2
Just as I was happy when I learned the characters and became able to read the newspaper, learning was not about rote memorisation, not about taking tests, but learning something, knowing something, that by itself was fun. That kind of raising of morale, isnât that the true nature of man? That is why, if we return to the childâs feelings, it is fine to start from whenever, to start from whatever. I donât want it to be âfor some purposeâ, but I want it to be fun for its own sake.
June 3
Until I finally get to the Danish, I will read it out loud about ten times. I come to understand the feeling. Of the person who wrote it. By going through the heart, the words come to life.
June 4
Iâve recently been using my favourite lines that I wrote myself when I was younger again. Looking at people who draw, Iâve come to think that that is ok. People who draw draw the same pictures over and over again, right? I think that the things people like to draw donât readily change.
June 5
I feel like if you can successfully include a sense of âI may also have felt this myselfâ, your work will often become better.
June 6
âI have a good idea!â sounds like a childâs voice. I wonder if having an idea feels like that. A team like that, where everyone says âI have a good idea!â while smiling impishly often, is my ideal.
June 7
I feel like the message that Prince was conveying with his music is summarised as: âI am me and you are youâ. âI love my freedom, and similarly I love yours tooâ. That was Princeâs stance at any time.
June 8
These days, isnât it the sort of time where, if you try to sell âmeansâ, you can sell however many you like? Everyone is prone to have their eyes drawn there, but I feel like whatâs really important, is what you want to do, what you want to tell, that part.
Contrary to what people think, itâs not about the marketing, itâs about the actual product.
June 9
In Osaka, there are a lot of people who are âirachiâ (impatient). Even at the register, the person behind me comes up vigorously. The other day, even though I was told âitâs so and so yenâ, the woman behind me tried to put her bills on the tray. I am often pushed, but that was a first!
June 10
Fallen trees are prone to be thought of as tree carcasses and nuisances, but they bring life to all sorts of organisms, not only mosses, ferns and lichens, but also mushrooms, insects and slime molds. Falles trees are sacrophytic fungiâs favourite meal. Itâs only fungi like mushrooms that are able to decompose the matter they contain that is difficult to degrade and return it to inorganic matter. When you to a forest, please try to observe the fallen trees. There is no doubt that youâll experience fresh wonder at the world of life that is unfolded there.
June 11
There are people who use umbrellas beautifully, right? When I see them properly closing their umbrella and carefully folding it at the station premises on a rainy day (I guess they have time to spare?), I always think âI need to follow their exampleâ. It feels refreshing, doesnât it?
June 12
Something happened to the you from 10 years from now and you strongly wished: âtake it back by 10 years pleaseâ. Thatâs why you have returned to this point. Letâs think of it that way. What on earth is it that the you from 10 years from now has entrusted to the present you? You probably put yourself back in this point in time, because you thought that there was probably something you could still do about it. If you think that presently you have returned to 10 years ago, you will feel like âletâs do itâ.
June 13
Pushing yourself because you think âI have to start somethingâ, I donât think that will last. Instead, if you start with a feeling of âI want to start so much I canât help itâ, it will fit you better, I think.
June 14
I donât put any faith in lesson review surveys. I only put faith in the twinkle in my studentsâ eyes. Usually, when Iâm teaching, I constantly look at my studentsâ eyes. Is my story coming across? Are they listening to me like theyâre interested? What do I care about beside that? I am here right now and you are here right now. I have something I want to get across right now. To hell with it all the rest as far as teaching is concerned.
June 15
Almost all people who try to âdo somethingâ⊠when it comes to doing something regarding this âtrying to do somethingâ, almost all of them just repeat that âtheyâll give it some thoughtâ. Really, even if you donât really know, when you âstart doing somethingâ, lots of things happen.
June 16
I love loquats and peaches. They are precious nowadays because of the way they allow you to choose the season. Their flavours are in sharp contrast, and as far as loquat is concered it is somewhat vague and thatâs why itâs good. Though compared to it the peach is much more intense and sensual, it has a somewhat noble aftertaste that calls out a state of mind that makes you feel like youâre in a fairyland. Going on to eat a peach after a loquat is one of the few chances to taste the changing of the seasons.
June 17
There are ways to become strong even when youâve passed your physical peak. You should know yourself. It is important to grasp exactly at what times you have what kind of reactions. I believe that by doing that, a more polished you will appear.
June 18
I feel like âpeople who are bad at public speakingâ are âawesome peopleâ in a sense. Itâs because if you change the way you look at them, they are very âsensitive peopleâ. They are considerate of peopleâs feelings and they observe while holding back their own opinion. The you are that sort of person, the worse you become at âpublic speakingâ.
June 19
When I asked my dad whatâs the difference between cafĂ© au lait and caffe latte, his answer was as follows. âEhh, cafĂ© au lait is that one right, çäčł with ăă«ăŻ.â Dad, thatâs just milk with milk in it.
June 20
Fighting when your team isnât in its best state is the toughest thing for a coach. However, I donât dislike such a team situation. Itâs not like I am hoping and wishing for a pinch, but when I am fighting a long pennant race, occasions come up once or twice where the team is not in a good state. Itâs a pinch, but in my mind itâs a chance.
June 21
The things that remain, they do not merely keep their prototype, but something new or an adaptation is added.
June 22
Cooking for myself. Until now it was a bit of a chore, but the fact that I have finally come to be able to enjoy it these last few months is one of the few good things that I got out of this period. Whoever first said that to eat is to live, I think they were really right. I have to be genki. There are many people I want to meet.
June 23
Looking for your future in titles is no good. Look for it in smiling faces.
June 24
âI am lonelyâ is a kind of signal similar to âI am hungryâ, isnât it? âIâm hungryâ is a signal of âreplenish your calories!â, and in the same way, it means that an alarm of âI am spending too much time aloneâ is going off.
June 25
I feel like itâs important to âbecomeâ first. Itâs not just âwanting to becomeâ, but it is searching for something you can become and trying to become that first.
June 26
When I was 23, I was roaming about the Sahara desert. Every day death was within reach. In the evening I would sometimes release my camel at the base of a tree that had sprouted up in the desert. Iâd set it free in order to let it eat. When it became morning and I got up, it would be gone. It had turned to the next tree. So Iâd go to find it, following its footprints. In short, Iâd wake up in the morning and Iâd receive a life or death baptism. Every day for half a year.
June 27
If it were a diary, I could write in it and put it in my drawer. But with tanka, you make it into a 5/7/5/7/7 form and a sense of wanting to deliver it to someone is attached to it. In that sense I feel like itâs more like a letter than a diary, isnât it?
June 28
When I returned to my parentsâ house after a long time, my mum was pleased that dad âhad bought Tiffanyâs for herâ. My dad, who has nothing to do with that sort of thing! I was surprised and was listening to the story, but there was something strange about the story. âIt doesnât stick!â âItâs easy to washâ âTiffanyâs is different, after allâ. Mum, thatâs Tefal!
June 29
Well, at first⊠it was hard. Both in Yoshimoto Naraâs time as in Takashi Murakamiâs time, they were mocked, denied by the people around them: âthis isnât artâ. But all we gallerists can do is to believe.
June 30
The fact that [being called ăžăžă€ or ăăăą] is disliked is partly because of the dakuten, I think. Thatâs why I see the dakuten disappearing soon. If only we get rid of the dakuten, even words with two dakuten in them like âkokifuriâ or âshishiiâ could be thought of as cute, no?