INDEX
Crafting a Cozy Space: Nishi’s Innate Skill
Okaya: When I was unable to go out due to the Corona disaster, I thought, “I want to go to an uncomfortable drinking party. At the end of a lively party with lots of people, I’d be like, “So, can I have some of that fried chicken?” and saying something like that, I thought it was surprisingly fun.
Nishi: Why is that?
Okaya: It is interesting to be in a place where the tension is so high that it is completely different from my own. Also, when you are in a place full of people, you feel like you are part of the group.
Nishi: That’s interesting. In the so-called literary world, people are usually liberal and their political stances are close, but when you go out into the world, for example, there is a completely different world, isn’t there? I think talking with people with different opinions is very important.
Okaya: I don’t have many opportunities to get to know new people now, so I would like to talk with people from Gen-Z. I’m nervous, though. I’d like to talk with Gen Z. I’m nervous, though.
Nishi: I’m learning something new, and it’s very important for me to talk with the people I meet there. It is fun to be together with people who are in completely different environments from me, just because we have something in common that we like. In a way, the same may be true in the world of literature and art.
Okaya: You never seem to feel “awkward” wherever you go. We once passed each other in an underpass in Shinjuku. You know how we passed each other once before on an underground passageway in Shinjuku? and wave to her.
Nishi: What, why can’t you do that? You mean you are nervous?
Okaya: I think too much about whether I should talk to him or not. Nishi-san has a great spontaneity when it comes to that kind of thing.
Nishi: I have a hard time thinking about what the other person will think or “Is it rude? Nishi: I have a hard time thinking about what the other person will think or whether it is rude or not. When I was younger, for example, I had the “muscle” to respond to compliments with modesty, but nowadays, when I receive compliments, I just say, “Oh, thank you.
Okaya: I don’t think you are the muscle. I think you have the muscle to talk to me quickly, and I don’t have the muscle.
Nishi: You’re right, maybe I’m a muscle. If I like someone, I want to meet him or her, and I want to be friends with him or her, so I don’t think about “What if I say this to him or her and he or she withdraws from me? I don’t want to be afraid that if I don’t talk to them, they won’t talk to me. I’m going to die someday.
Okaya: I see. You have the ability to make yourself comfortable in your own place. Maybe I can’t get along with people because I think “it’s okay if I’m uncomfortable,” and I don’t dislike being uncomfortable so much. ……
Kanako Nishi
Kanako Nishi
I want to meet you”
Released on Thursday, November 2, 2013
Price: 1,540 yen (tax included)
Shueisha
Izumi Okaya
Izumi Okaya
Ame no shikkoto” (The things that rain does not do) 1 & 2
Sale on December 12, 2013 (Tuesday)
Price: 880 yen each (tax included)
Beam Comics (KADOKAWA)
Izumi Okaya
Izumi Okaya
Manga artist and illustrator. Debuted in 2011 with “Irodachi (Color Differences),” which captures everyday life with a unique sensibility. His books include “Sukimameshi,” “Zoku Sukimameshi,” “Gohan no Jikkuri 1 & 2,” “Mono Suru Hito 1, 2 & 3,” “Mitsuba Dori Shotengai de,” and the essay comic “Ooatte ga Yona Yona De” in which he asks popular authors about their ideal “last supper. In 2022, he won the 26th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize for Short Stories for his two works “Itoshi wo” and “Shirakiren wa Kirei Sasanai”.
