Tokyo Nishi Public High School (1)

Ikeda: Up until about Summer Vacation of my Junior year, my parents were totally against art school, and I was going to take literature at a private university. That summer, though, I stood up for myself and decided I wanted to go to art school. Just because of that, though, my friends all started saying things like, "That's terrific!" and, "Go for it!"

Takagi: Even mentioning East Indian Philosophy makes people say, "Really?" to me.

"Don't Make Such a Big Deal Out of It"

Ikeda: Yeah, it's like, you know, most people want to be scholars, or scientists, they all want the same thing, anyway. Now, what I want most is to be a designer, and since it's different from what other people want, I'm just going to a somewhat more specialized college than others. When people say, "That's terrific," or otherwise make a big deal just because I'm going into art, I feel, it's not as if this is the only thing I like or that I'm good at. If I hear that kind of overblown talk too much, I want to tell people, you've got it all wrong! It's just the way to go for this kind of a career.

Uehara: Don't you get that kind of response because of the kind of school this is? There are lots of people here who go on to college, but even so, there are plenty of people who want to go to art school too.

Ikeda: Yeah, well, that's just it. I go to a painting cram school, and lots of like-minded people gather there, so we take discussions about art schools for granted.

Nagamori: Isn't that the way it is with anything? If everyone is like that, then it isn't all that terrific...

Ikeda: I don't like having even one person talk like that to me. When I walk down the street, I carry a big portfolio with panels and what-not in it, but that's no different from everyone else carrying textbooks in their briefcases.

Anno: You want equal rights?

Ikeda: Yeah, something like that.

Nagamori: Isn't it because it takes special talent to do that? Not that other things don't require talent, that is.

Ikeda: Special talent or no, I don't know if I've got any aptitude for it, so I'm working at it because that's all I know I've got. Just like everyone else.

Takagi: I want to go to college. But I also want to play music. I was told at one two-year college that they have a course in jazz theory, so I figure I'll go there for two years, and then take my next two years at U. C. Berkeley. It's expensive, though. Easily as much as an art school. Besides which, jazz isn't my real area of interest.

Ikeda: Why don't you just go to art college, then?

"Amateurs Can't Get in to Art College"

Anno: Amateurs can't get admitted there.

Takagi: What? Amateurs can't get in?

Anno: Nope. Playing jazz or being in a band isn't enough to get you in.

Uehara: That's why I figure that people with dreams, with something to aspire to, could just as easily go to a technical school. Nobody has any dreams anymore.

Ikeda: No dreams? Not of the kind of work you want to do?

Uehara: Isn't that what it comes down to?

Q. What about the rest of you?

Kawakami: I've decided on a future in art. Design.

Ikeda: Wow, just like me.

Kawakami: For now, it's art. I can't stand private schools.

Ikeda: The place I most want to go to right now is the graphics design department at Tama Art Institute.

Anno: I wouldn't know about Tama these days.

Ikeda:The cram school I go to gets a lot of acclaim for having a lot of its students get accepted at private universities, and I'd like to try for something really prestigious, but no way am I in any shape to go up against people like those. The students who skip a year and then apply are far and away better at painting or drawing than those who don't. The art schools don't look at science or anything except pictures. It all comes down to what you can actually do, which means there's no chance of getting in first time out.

Anno: They don't take people on their first approach. It's like, come back in two or three years, unless you're something really special.

Ikeda: But my folks were told that art colleges will only take students in their first year of application, so I figured I'd just go someplace that would accept me in my first year. That would be Musashino Art College, or Tama Art Institute, or Nichigei, or something.

Anno: Musashino and Tama are themselves pretty tough...

Ikeda: Please don't say such defeatist things.

Uehara: It's the truth.

(From the June 11 edition of Mainichi Intermediate School News)