Tokyo Nishi Public High School (2)

Inao: First, I'm just going to get into college. Once I'm there, II'll figure out what I want to do. I'm in a band right now, and I've heard that art is most enjoyable when you do it for fun rather than as a job, so I'm wondering if I shouldn't just leave it at that.

Nagamori: I'm thinking of studying law in college. I'd like to be a judge someday.

Ikeda: You do like your studying, don't you, Nagamori.

"Get Into a Good School, Then Party"

Uehara: I don't have any aspirations, so I'm going to go a school that's good enough that I can party once I get in. Public universities like Hitotsubashi or Tokyo University have big names, so once you're in, you can play around.

Takagi: That's not for me.

Ikeda: Me neither (agreeing with Takagi).

Uehara: Why not! I know they say that today's college students do nothing but party, but in a sense, I think there's an inevitability to that. After all, we bust our asses to get in to college, so why should we have to face more study once we get there?

Ikeda: Isn't that the reason you go to college, to study? If you don't want to study, then don't go to college in the first place.

Takagi: College is for higher education, right? In your case, maybe it should be "higher partying".

Uehara: I don't intend to slack off altogether, though my choice of words may have given that impression. I just don't like the idea of doing nothing but studying.

Ikeda: Don't you enjoy studying for your entrance exams?

Uehara: No, I don't.

Ikeda: In my case, it's a whole lot of fun.

Uehara: That's because I'm doing your basic exam study. I'm studying for the specific purpose of getting into college. So the study itself is meaningless. My efforts will help shape my personality, and so that effort will make a difference as long as I live. But you don't hardly learn anything from exam study, and I don't think it's of any real use.

Takagi: You just don't think that study is necessary.

Uehara: No, it is necessary, so long as we live. And since I am indeed studying, I think I'm far and away better than those who do nothing but goof off.

All: (gales of laughter)

Ikeda: Daichi (Takagi), you really think you're better because you too have an objective, right?

Uehara: As I see it, guys like Ikeda and Daichi, who have an objective in mind, are great. I think guys like that should stick to whatever path they've chosen. Now, I don't have anything like that. And those of us who don't have any objectives in mind, what is there except study?

Ikeda: I think you could also say that you may as well not study if you don't have an objective in mind. After all, if such a person just spends his life partying, what does it matter?

Uehara: It matters a lot! I want to have the good life someday, and to do that, I've got to get into a good school.

Ikeda: Is that so.

Uehara: That's why I'm making all this effort.

"I Want To Change the System"

Takagi: Are you making your efforts out of a sense of brand consciousness?

Uehara: I'm not brand conscious. Everyone else around me is.

Ikeda: And you're going along with it. That's brand consciousness right there.

Takagi: Are you going along with it?

Uehara (subdued): Yeah, I am. I'm confident that I won't be biased into thinking that I'm great because I came from such-and-such University. I've figured out that studying is for fulfilling other people's prejudices. It's a means to an end. And it's sour grapes not to study, and then say to hell with studying, right? But it'd be cool to get into Tokyo University or someplace like that, and then say to hell with studying.

All: (more laughter)

Uehara: Wouldn't you agree, Moori?

Moori: Yeah, I would.

Uehara: Systems don't change unless you get high enough to speak out about them.

Takagi: Well, you may be right, but...

Ikeda: So are you studying so that you can say that studying serves no purpose?

Uehara: That too. I don't want to have someone else's prejudice laid on me.

Anno: Boy, this has been as much fun as a comedy show. I didn't have a single opening.

(From the June 18, 1998 edition of Mainichi Intermediate School News)