Kanagawa Prefectural Ikuta High School (4)

Miyabu: Did you date anyone while you were in high school?

Anno: I didn't have any girlfriends in high school. I did manga and astronomy, as well as watch anime and play mah jongg. When there was a test, I'd tell my folks I was going to a friend's house to study. We'd play all-night mah jongg, then we'd catch a nap before eventually going to school, and when the test was over we'd go back and play mah jongg some more. It was all anime and mah jongg. Back then, girls avoided me like the plague, because I was so gloomy.

All: Wow!

Anno: In junior high, I had a little fling that seemed like love, but wasn't. It turned into a triangle with a pal of mine, and that turned into a crisis. All through high school, I decided that being the way I was, was fine, and had no romances the whole time. Some underclasswomen came on to me, but I showed them no interest. The world was full of things more interesting than women. I was much more interested in making movies back then than dating. I regret it now, though. My life might be different now if I'd had sex back then.

All: (laughter)

Anno: High-school students today have it better. When I was in high school, and college too, there were no such things as "hair nudes" (translator's note: since the end of the Second World War, showing pubic hair in nudes has been prohibited, until fairly recently. Thus the media coined the term "hair nude" to distinguish nudes with pubic hair showing from those without.--MH). I think these are good times to live in.

Okubo: These times have their good and bad points. Everyone's rushing everywhere, we can't take time for anything, it seems.

Anno: There's too much information out there, but but if there were some way we could cut out what we don't need, I think we could probably adjust. At first you'd lay it all out in a line, and you might worry that you had to deal with all of it, but sooner or later you'll find things that you don't need to deal with after all. Salarymen seem to have time on their hands, right? That's because they have more things they don't need to do than that they do need to do. You'll feel it for yourselves once you get to college.

Okubo: When I come to school in the morning, and see all the crowds at train station entrances and the like, or just walking around, I get to thinking that we lost any ease we might have had, and that there's got to be something better out there.

Uchida: When you don't feel like you have any ease, if you just think about it, you can find spare time. Right now, though, I don't have any ease because I'm trying to figure out what to do after high school.

"The Important Thing in College is Friends"

Takahashi: I wonder if going to college is really a good thing.

Anno: Going to college is better than not going to college. The moratorium will do you good. The best thing about college, though this sounds strange to think of it as something that will help you in the real world, is the friends you make there. They're the ones who'll see you through.

All: (nodding)

Anno: It was true for me too. When I left college, my friends and I all went to different companies, but because we stayed in touch, I was able to get connections to the companies where they worked. You should take good care of the friends you make in college, because you won't make many more friends once you get out in the real world. Profit motives get involved, and they become less your friends than your coworkers. The last place you'll be able to make friends without that getting in the way is at college.

All: (nodding again)

"Play Around for Four Years and Broaden Your Horizons"

Anno: Even if you work and make friends, you'll be limited to within your particular industry. College will be your last chance to broaden the scope of your personal relationships, and the horizons of your world. You should go if you can. You'll be able to party for four years on your parents' money.

Takahashi: I'll give it my best shot. What about technical schools?

Anno: I don't recommend technical schools. Everyone who goes to one of those places starts off by having the same field of specialty, after all, so monotony soon sets in. Take anime schools for example. You go to one of those, and you've got a gathering of people who've all been social and class outcasts up to now. You'll start suffering the illusion that the world revolves around you as a result. I haven't yet seen anyone who liked anime and who'd ever gotten any use out of what he learned in those places.

All: (nodding)

Anno: I don't recommend technical schools. You're better off partying for four years. If you work in the meantime and like it, then go ahead and quit college.

Takahashi: I'd been thinking about going to college, but I don't know what I'd be going there for.

Anno: Go there to party.

Takahashi: I'll do that.

(From the Aug. 6, 1998 edition of Mainichi Intermediate School News)