Tetsugaku 42 : Outside and Inside
– Speaking of inside and outside, tetsu-san, what does it mean to you?
[I generally don’t spend much time inside-out.]
– Ah, right, I can understand that.
[But I think I’m probably thought of as being that way a lot of the time. I don’t keep that much on the inside. I can’t say I don’t have anything hidden at all, cause I don’t think that’s possible for anyone. I think the ones who say “I don’t hide anything,” are definitely hiding something.]
– Ahahaha! For sure. There’s no way to not have anything like that.
[I’m human too, so I can’t say I hide nothing, but sometimes I’m stupidly honest. I think that sort of thing ends up being the reason for a lot of misunderstandings, and in a way I think it’s harmful. But, after all, in this business, even if I were to say “I’m saying this with the best possible intentions, you know?” or something, there are still people who’d maliciously twist my words.]
– There definitely are people like that, but I think that there are also plenty of people you don’t need to worry about. In the end, you have to leave it up to the other person to take your words as they will.
[That’s true. Like it or hate it. It just depends on if that person says they like me or says they hate me. Or maybe they can’t stand me at all (laughs). Though, as long as the number of people who “like” me goes up, there’s an increase the other way, too. But really, worrying about that sort of thing is no way to live.]
– But, don’t you think it’s better to have someone say “I don’t care” than have them say they “hate” you?
[Mmhmm. I don’t want to be hated, honestly.]
– Is it okay if they say “I’m not interested,” even?
[But, you know, I totally don’t understand people who go “I hate seeing your face,” without having any reason to “hate” me (laughs). I have no way of knowing if they’re going to twist what I say or if they have some hostility towards me. I genuinely don’t understand the reason, the cause for that sort of thing. That even happens with people I’ve never met before. But if there really was someone who said “I hate you!” to me, then if I were to spend a day talking things out with that person, I don’t know if they’ll come out saying “You’re okay after all,” and start liking me, or if they’ll do the opposite. There’s no way for me to tell, and there’s no end to it. Thinking mathematically, taking a population and finding out which percentage of them are anti-me would be a necessary evil. It’s a ‘Matrix’ world. (1)]
– We left it, right? (laughs). But I agree with you.
[Even in a factory where things are built, there’s a certain percentage that come out defective. Cause there’s no way to make everything perfect. There’s no way I can get a 100% approval rating (laughs).]
– In a sense, that might balance out your more impressive points, tetsu-san.
[A sense of balance, you say, but that’s “What the world is all about,” after all. Inside and outside, public attitude and true feelings, there’s all sorts of things like that, obviously. Good things come bundled with bad things, that’s how the world operates.]
– Then it’s not a matter of picking one. For example, you can’t have just peace, since there are people who live off war, and so this could lead to that sort of talk rather quickly.
[The exact definition of peace is ambiguous to begin with. Anyone can say that “wars are not good,” but they happen anyway. To the people involved in them, it’s always happening for a just cause.]
– In that case, what we all need is to share the same point of view.
[But, that’s waaaay too simple. “If they’d just think about it a little, anyone could understand,” but I guess too many people don’t even bother to think about it. That there are lots of other ways. That’s why you need to spend more time learning to look below the surface. Like when you watch TV or read a magazine. When you read something in the magazines and newspapers, you think it’s true don’t you? But a lot of the time they make mistakes or they lie to you.]
– Interviewer : Honma Yuuko
Translated by Natalie Arnold