JP/EN

Encyclopedia of niime

niime's twenty-minute talk
About a 'natural attitude'

〈part 2〉

2019 . 10 . 01

In the new ‘niime encyclopedia’ twenty-minute talk part two, Tamaki and Sakai will continue to talk about a ‘natural attitude’ in a relaxed and casual way. The subject goes from the ‘exhibitionistic’ to the ‘environment for raising children’ and the ‘compulsory education’.

Tamaki
We cannot learn without a natural attitude, with a little excitement. Our brain will reject it if someone says, “Okay, it’s time to study!”, and force us to do.


Sakai
What we are doing is not an obligation. We are not forced to do anything. We do it for fun.


Tamaki
After all, a human being might have the instinct to show themselves better. Of course, it is better for them to be as they are.


– If you are as you are, you can let that tension go.


Tamaki
Indeed. We should not use unneeded effort, even for society and the earth.


– The one thing we can say is everybody hopes to be praised.


Sakai
Exactly.


Tamaki
Why? How come you want to be praised?


– Well, some people have a strong desire to be seen as better.


Tamaki
Is it instinct??


Sakai
Some people have strong desires. It is exhibitionistic.


Tamaki
Why do you need that kind of desire?


Sakai
I guess it is human needs, right?


Tamaki
Desire for sleep, food, sex to survive…


Sakai
The three primitive desires.


Tamaki
They are more innate desires than other ones.


Sakai
I don’t think they are higher…they are about the same, aren’t they? We would sleep when we get sleepy; we would eat if we are hungry, wouldn’t we?


Tamaki
They are to survive. We cannot live without them.


– They are instinctive desires.


Tamaki
Everybody has had them since we were born. However, babies have not desired to show themselves as better. They don’t compare to others yet, right? Do you think a baby tries to cry louder than other babies in the newborn nursery?


Sakai
I don’t think so.


– I guess after becoming self-aware.


Tamaki
It’s about the connection between people, well, after building up the parent and child relationship.


– We all have a desire to give our parents a better view of ourselves.


Tamaki
The first desire: to want to be praised by parents. All the human being want to be loved.


– That is the bottom line, I guess.


Tamaki
Right there, …we are all weak.


Sakai
I think we want to be loved because we love ourselves.


Tamaki
To measure how much you love yourself: How much are you loved? How many friends do you have? How much money do you have? They are all the ways to show what you have and evaluate yourself. Then you are relieved to feel you are all good.


– Need a measure with.


Sakai
However, it is not yourself, right?


Tamaki
We cannot help comparing to others, because we cannot live alone.


– I think it is important to love oneself, and it is natural to have a desire to be loved.


Tamaki
You think it gets too excessive?


– I guess so.


Tamaki
If I have close friends to have fellowship, I would like to keep a deeper relationship. So I don’t need anything else. However, in current Japan, more and more people get lonely.


– Ummm.


Tamaki
As trending toward the nuclear family, more children aren’t raised with their grandparents. Because they don’t understand big families, only loved by their parents, they only focus on one direction to be loved.


– You mean they haven’t spent their childhood with various people?


Tamaki
Children can learn to observe the different type of relationship and model cases to live their lives: there are more people other than their own parents, for example, grandfather, grandmother, relatives, aunts, cousins and friends all get together to have a barbeque on holiday.


– I see.


Tamaki
Also, there are various ways to enjoy themselves. I guess their environment has changed a lot. – They have less chances to see from other points of view or different ideas other than their parents.


Tamaki
It tends to be black or white.


– To see the different thoughts and ideas may be real wealth.


Tamaki
I heard that a mother tied her child to a tree with a rope while she was working in the field. She told her child to wait there! The child was like a puppy dog, right? At that time, there was no childcare, so it was allowed, and that was the only way to keep the child to be safe. If she leaves her child alone, he or she might get hurt or be in danger; however, the child thinks him or herself, how to spend time alone while waiting for his or her mom. The child had time to think about it, and that’s how children grew up. Nowadays, everything is set: parents should leave their children in someone’s care. It is less dangerous, however, no fun for children. (to Sakai) What do you think?


Sakai
Originally, if we define that natural attitude is neutral, the ‘compulsory education’ destroyed the neutral.


Tamaki
You cannot teach children as an obligation?


Sakai
Yeah. Neutral starts falling out when compulsory education begins in the first grade in elementary school.


Tamaki
Our predecessors originally made schools because they believed that only their system could raise education levels for people, right?


Sakai
After all, each person has his or her basic life. Besides, each one’s personality consists of the contents that he or she has learned.


Tamaki
Everything is related.


Sakai
Indeed.


Tamaki
And we cannot learn anything unless it is exciting from a natural perspective. If it is too serious, like ‘it’s time to study’! Our brains will feel overloaded.


Sakai
We are not doing anything out of obligation.


Tamaki
It was mostly for enjoyment.


Sakai
Just-for-fun.


– Sounds really nice!


Tamaki
In that case, I feel a sense of crisis as ‘tamaki niime’ because we are losing our playfulness.


– Really?


Sakai
We don’t think of it as an obligation; however, everybody thinks it is rather obligatory.


Tamaki
We created a new style, so it is totally a ‘hobby’ for us. I cannot stop it because it is fun. We can do this, and we can do that… that’s what we’ve been trying. However, for the people who joined after the system had already been set, it is the same as the compulsory education system — something they have to do.


Sakai
We didn’t say anything like that.


– We should not stick to what we have done. We should keep the playful spirit. Even the style of the ‘niime encyclopedia’ needs to be more spontaneous.


Tamaki
Yes. Like, what are we gonna do? How? …etc. We should enjoy it. (laugh)


Sakai
I guess we don’t like to categorize the topic and make the ‘niime encyclopedia’ obligatory. It’s not because we don’t like it any more.


Tamaki
We don’t like developing a specific pattern.


Sakai
If it is always neutral, we can enjoy it.


Tamaki
Once the readers can guess the pattern, it’s no longer attractive.


Sakai
We should be casual all the time! I mean if it’s messed up, it’s very much like us.


Tamaki
I like it!


– …, and now the time is up.


Tamaki
The first time is done!


Sakai
It’s very typical of us, and now it is done.


Tamaki
Landed.


– We still have two minutes left. Isn’t it great? This is our first time.


Tamaki
We’ve succeeded.


Sakai
When we have a limit; twenty minutes.


Tamaki
You suddenly started talking. That’s what I wanted! (laugh)


Sakai
If we have only twenty minutes, we feel like we got to talk about something, or I should say that it is not an ‘interview’ anymore but more of a ‘discussion’.


Tamaki
Yes.


– It is not passive, isn’t it?


Sakai
Indeed. It is not compulsory. We have a lively feeling.


– We should keep this style for a while, and if we have any problem, we should change it.


Tamaki
Good idea.


Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.