Manga artist Okayaizumi invites guests to his home for a series called “Wouldn’t You Like to Drink at My Place?” In the second installment, we had the pleasure of welcoming Konari Misato, the creator of “Nagi’s Long Vacation.”
The segment unveils the eccentric decor of Konari’s workspace and delves into whimsical musings, including imagining the hidden dramas of a remodeling company’s sales representative. Experience the explosion of Konari’s unconventional charm during this casual drinking session.
Don’t miss out on Okayasan’s homemade “Steamed Dumplings” recipe, generously shared on the day! (The recipe can be found at the end of the article.)
INDEX
We always End up Drinking for a Long Time
Konari: I brought a variety of drinks! This is a grape juice-like beer from Nagano, and it’s really delicious. Also, I brought a souvenir for Mr. Okaya. It is a pressure point remover made by a manufacturer called AKAISHI! Just holding it feels good, and when I put it under my cheekbone, it feels so good I feel like I’m going to pass out. Also, I brought this glass because I thought it would be glorious. I thought I’d like to drink sake with it. It’s a return gift from the Furusato tax.
Okaya: What, this is a tax return from a hometown? What prefecture ……?
Konari: Nagano Prefecture. Isn’t it cute? I look forward to working with you today! Also, can I have a glass for water?
Okaya: Great, bring 2 liters of water!
Konari: Yes, yes. I found that I can stay sane longer if I put a glass of water between my fingers, so this is the style I use when I drink these days!
Manga artist; debuted in 2004 with the serial “Loofah Milk” in “CUTiE”; won the 65th Shogakukan Manga Award (for girls) for “Nagi no Oyaku”, serialized in “Elegance Eve” since 2016. The work was also adapted into a TV drama starring Hana Kuroki. Other works include “Coffee Wouldn’t You Like,” “Shameful Otome’s for Drinking at Home,” “Hitori Dakemon! etc.
Okaya: When I drink with Konari-san, we always drink for a very long time.
Konari: Okaya-san is very patient with me. We first met at Seibu in Ikebukuro, right?
Okaya: We drank on the rooftop of Seibu. I feel like I often drink with Mr. Konari outside or in public places. Konari-san’s “Hitori ni imakeru mono” (“I can drink by myself!”) is a manga about drinking at fast food restaurants and such. is a manga about drinking at fast food restaurants, and I get the impression that you also like that kind of thing.
Konari: We drank at Tenya (a tendon chain) and Shakey’s, too. I once had him accompany me on an “emo sake walk” and we walked around with bottles of red wine in our water bottles.
Okaya: Also, someone asked me if I wanted to have a drink in front of Koenji station.
Konari: Yes, yes! I wanted to drink while looking at pigeons and such. I feel like you are in every memory. Even in places where he wasn’t actually there.
Okaya: People often say that I always seem to be there at drinking parties. They say, “Hey, weren’t you there at that time?” I think I was at that time.
Konari: I know what you mean!
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Undeniable Obsession to GaaSyy
Okaya: But you couldn’t go out drinking that much during the Corona disaster.
Konari: That’s right. During that time, I was addicted to garcinis.
Okaya: What?
Konari: I’m trying to live my life without covering up the past that got me hooked on garcinia (laughs). Did you see it at all, Okaya? Are you sure? (laughs).
Okaya: What did you like about it?
Konari: I felt a kind of emotion through the screen, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
Okaya: Oh, I see.
Konari: He is a man who has done a lot of things, but if I were a celebrity and I were in contact with him, I think he would probably be a very good brother.
Okaya: Is that so? I didn’t think so when I glanced at him.
Konari: After Garcy, I also got into Toshio Okada.
Okaya: Why is that also …….
Konari: If you start watching those videos like a potato from Garcy, the thumbnails that come up in the recommendations are all men with a black glow. Among them, Toshio Okada was relatively not black.
Okaya: Where did you get into Toshio Okada?
Konari: He does a book called “Psychopathic Life Consultations,” which is very interesting. There is also a book, and in it there is a diagnosis that divides people into four types, and I wanted everyone to try it, so I sent it to my friends on LINE. I wanted everyone to try it, so I sent it to my friends on LINE.
Okaya: Yes, I did.
Konari: Oh, good. So I was rational then (laughs).
Okaya: You get into it, but you cool down quickly, don’t you?
Konari: Yeah. There was a time when I watched a lot of Hiroyuki’s videos, and I can see why they were so popular. It was like a special move. I can understand why elementary school students imitate it.
Okaya: Yes, maybe it’s because it’s a signature line, or maybe it has a shonen manga-like feel to it.
Konari: Yes, yes. It’s your impression, isn’t it? (*).
(*), a special move that appears in “YuYu Hakusho.
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Konari’s Eccentric Workspace
Konari: But right now, all I see coming up on YouTube recommendations are videos of floor coverings and the like. I’m preparing to remodel my house, so that’s all I’m researching. Sometimes Toshio Okada cuts in, though. He’s like, “You forgot about me, didn’t you?” (laughs).
Okaya: I visited Konari-san’s workroom before, and it was crazy. There was a banner that said “Genki Hatsuratsu Ratsu” or something like that in a pharmacy, and it was used as curtains.
Konari: “This is the perfect size for curtains!” I thought (laughs).
Okaya: There was also a wooden alphabet figurine with the word “UNKO” written on it.
Konari: Ornaments like that usually have a message that you don’t understand from the beginning. They say “BEAUTIFUL DREAM” or “PRECIOUS TIME” (laughs). (Laughs.) I thought, “Don’t make up your own mind.
Okaya: And then there was “UNKO” (laughs).
Konari: Even small items sold at 100 yen stores sometimes have unfamiliar words written on them.
Okaya: I guess it is a spirit of service, as if it would be lonely if it were too simple.
Konari: They are dressing me up. But you don’t have to. I wonder if you could make a dressed-up version and a plain version. I think the plain version will sell like crazy!
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Another Obsession with Herbarium
Okaya: Renovation sounds like fun. I never had any interest in what to do with my house, but recently I’m finally starting to find it interesting.
Konari: At first, the renovation company told me, “Look, Konari-san, from now on, you have to make 72 choices. I’m already white-eyed.
Okaya: That’s a lot of work!
Konari: For example, with clothes or manga, you can choose what you like and what you don’t like so much. But I have never really thought about my house, so I have no idea what is considered fashionable or what is a bit old-fashioned.
Okaya: You never know what the current trends will be in 10 years.
Konari: For example, hanging dried flowers or herbarium, which is an ornament with a bottle full of flowers inside, things that are considered fashionable now may be treated like the clowns made of army gloves that you often see at grandma’s house years from now.
Okaya: Have you made all 72 selections yet?
Konari: I have only decided on three (laughs). I have to go to the showroom later today to choose a door.
INDEX
Everyday Encounters: Manga-Esque Nice Characters Making an Appearance
Konari: By the way, I’ve been talking to more of my neighbors lately. We never used to talk about things like, “It looks like it’s going to rain today,” so I think it’s a lovely time.
Okaya: Indeed. When you live alone, you don’t have many opportunities to talk about such things.
Konari: I talk to my grandmother over the balcony as she hangs the laundry out to dry, and she tells me, “It’s sunny now, but it might start raining in the evening. When I said, “Really, thank you,” she made a finger gun, pointed it at me, and said, “Bang! She pointed it at me and said, “Bang!
Okaya: What an amazing grandmother. It’s like a cartoon.
Konari: Yes, it is. She looks like the grandmother that Rumiko Takahashi draws.
Konari: Speaking of cartoonish, the salesperson at the renovation company I’m working with now is a young-looking woman. When I said, “I look forward to working with you,” she smiled and high-fived her boss when we decided to hire her!
Okaya: Right in front of me.
Konari: Yes. Then I thought, “I’m part of their story” (laughs). Now I am in her story as a mob character.
Okaya: Isn’t the client usually the main character ?
Konari: She works very hard and is very good at her job, so she seems to be the main character.
Okaya: I see. Cartoonists indeed look at things thinking, “I can draw this in a cartoon,” so maybe there is a sense that they don’t put themselves as the main character.
Konari: He even prepared samples of his own paint, and he does a lot of other things for me, but I’m supposed to go with him to a model room before Christmas! I’m supposed to go to a model room with him before Christmas! I was thinking, “What if I’m late and she can’t spend Christmas with her partner? In this story, I’m like Midoriko Kimura playing the role of Kramer.
Okaya: Why do you make such a correction. I don’t think the other side thinks that the customers think that way, do they?
Konari: I’m sure they are on line to their partners saying, “Sorry, I can’t go to work today either,” and it’s raining super hard, because of me (laughs).
Okaya: (laughs). It’s not your fault it’s raining, Konari.
Konari: Then a song by either Official Bearded Man dism or Aimyon came on.
Okaya: I was waiting alone at a restaurant where I had a reservation.
Konari: They said, “We’re about to close.” Oh, I mustn’t let them work overtime on Christmas!
Okaya: You can ask your grandmother at the laundry if it’s going to rain.
Konari: Yeah, “I heard it’s going to rain today, bam!” And. Oh, my boss at the renovation company looks a bit like Gershwin.
Okaya: There are too many good characters around!
Konari: Haha, it’s getting fun. I think I’ll give up choosing a door today.
Misato Konari Nagi’s Long Vacation 11
Friday, February 16, 2024
Price: 748 yen (tax included)
Akita Shoten
Izumi Okaya Ame ga Shinaikoto
Izumi Okaya
Ame no shikkoto” (The things that rain does not do) 1 & 2
On sale Tuesday, December 12, 2013
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”.
