Laid-Back Survival Tactics of a Culture Freelancer with Shinobu Kawai

Finding Victory in Continuing to Enjoy, Regardless of Wins or Losses

Kawai: I will be teaching at a vocational school for the first time in April, and I am thinking about what I should teach teenagers.

Okaya: Yes.

Kawai: Rather than teaching techniques, I wonder. It may sound like a bad way of putting it, but if there is such a thing as winning and losing, I would really like to say that if there is such a thing as winning and losing, the winner is to keep doing what you love and have fun doing it. You don’t necessarily have to make money doing it.

Okaya: Yes, that’s right. For example, even if you are not earning your main income from drawing or cartooning or making fanzines, you are still an artist, and that is a wonderful thing. There is a scene that is created by that. It’s fun as long as you keep at it, and you don’t have to quit just because you don’t make any money.　I think that’s a great thing to do.

Kawai: Yeah, that’s right. When I was in my twenties, I used to think what I did was cool, and I always worried about what would happen if it sold out, but it never did, [laughs]. It wasn’t until much later that I realized the things I liked weren’t necessarily what everyone else liked.”

Okaya: But you are still doing it, aren’t you? You’ve been doing it for a long time.

Kawai: Yes. I’ve been doing what I think is good for a long time, and I continue to enjoy what I’m doing. I think it’s very healthy.

Okaya: I do think about “how to make money to live on,” but I am not suited to trying to get rich quick. Rather, I would like to continue working even when I am old.

Kawai: When you’ve come this far, it’s all about how you can continue to have fun and keep things interesting.

Okaya: That’s right. Also, when you look around you, everyone is doing things rather freely and still managing to survive.

Kawai: Yes. But it’s not until you reach 40 or so that you realize these things. I go round and round until then [laughs].

Okaya: As I’ve entered my forties, I’ve been feeling more and more at ease. Although my body isn’t holding up quite as well.

Kawai: The body, you know, it gets worse when you get over 50! [laughs].