Italiano15 Years
Dear my LOVERS
I’m going to post part of the editorial
from the blog magazine again.
Today marks 15 years since my solo debut.
I wrote about all my feelings in the blog magzine,
so give it a read.
*This article is posted in full on the GACKT Blog Magazine “OH! MY! GACKT!!!”*
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/gack
I’ve arrived at Narita Airport.
It’s ridiculously cold in Japan…
Even though it’s the end of April already
it’s really weird.
Oh well, nevermind.
Today is a special day.
15 years before today,
April 25th 1999,
I had my solo debut
as “GACKT”.
That said,
not a single person from the office
has said congratulations.
I wonder if they have forgotten,
or if they haven’t noticed…
I guess there are some who don’t know.
It’s sad.
The people in my office
are never looking at the past or the future,
only the present.
They’re only thinking of desperately doing
what has to be done now as their job.
They are fundamentally misunderstanding the meaning of that work.
The difference in our level of consciousnes
is downright sad.
But that’s the way it is.
Maybe it’s been the same for all 15 years.
My worries have been the people at the office.
I can’t even laugh at it…
Ahahahaha.
But,
if I said every dissatisfaction that rises up in me,
I’d never stop complaining.
There’s no such thing as a world without dissatisfactions.
Rather, I should be thankful from the bottom of my heart
for everyone that followed me this far.
Thanks.
For following my headstrong self like this.
Because I’m going to keep running like this without dropping my pace.
And let’s look forward.
Not leaning on anyone,
but not giving up…
I’ll keep standing tall in that stance.
Staff who can really walk this road with me
will either emerge from the ones I have,
or freshly appear.
I’ll definitely find the people I need.
And if I can’t find them, I’ll make them.
Most people in the world
live life on one of two paths.
Which are you?
There are those who spread one hour of work out over 9 hours,
aim to earn 1100yen an hour [about $11, Japanese minimum wage is about 700yen, 1100yen is about the highest you’d get for retail work]
and think they’re making money.
There are those who really think that.
On the other hand, there are those who finish it in 25 minutes
and make that skill into their fortune.
The difference in their lives in 10 years time is obvious.
The kind of person I am looking for is obvious.
Today, 15 years ago.
I withdrew from MALICE MIZER,
and was told a lot of things by a lot of people,
even so, just wanting to respond to the feelings
of the many fans who desperately followed me,
I made a bold move.
That was the day when,
without being able to see the future,
with no guarantees of a future,
I made a new start.
Since then, a lot has happened.
Really, a lot.
When I look back,
I was definitely haunted by problems with the office since then.
It takes a tremendous amount of power
to establish an agency.
It’s not just power,
the manager who runs the agency
has many conditions.
Power, stamina,
leadership, ability to take action,
ideas, taste,
attack power, ability to pull people in,
leadership [yes he said this twice], destructive power,
ability to judge things, ability to avert a crisis
It’s impossible to run a production company
in this entertainment industry
if you don’t have a group of people that, between them,
have all these traits.
If you’re merely smart,
or good at managing,
you can’t run a production company.
Because in this industry,
there’s a riduculous number of devils
and demons with human faces.
If you’re going to interact with those guys,
then just the “I went to a good university!” kind of smartness
or common sense isn’t enough of a weapon.
“I used to do X for my job”…
in this world, it’s not enough.
If a bunch of people like that got together,
they’d be eaten alive by other agencies,
and destroyed.
That’s a peculiartity of this special world
we call the entertainment industry.
There are a lot of “old ways” of doing things
and a mountain of “associates” you don’t want to associate with.
There are a lot of production compaines that aren’t around anymore
that I wasn’t surprised to hear rumors were connected to the yakuza.
It’s a special world where as soon as something happens,
you’ll hear a whisper of, “It’s destroy or be destroyed”.
There have been so many times I’ve been disgusted with this destroying.
Since I made my solo debut,
the people in the position of manager that the agency is entrusted to
have really worked hard.
When I met each of them,
they were wonderful people overflowing with energy.
But,
a significant number of them,
once the money started flowing, immediately changed,
and began spending it up, using money ridiculously
like it grew on trees.
The obvious difference from how normal businesses make profits,
no,
That the period of time between investment and profit
is so short, and the profits so big if you “get it right”
and that the way of “getting it right” involves a lot of gambling, like a lottery
probably corrupts the heads of companies in the entertainment industry.
Looking at the managers of other agencies
to be frank,
I can count on one hand the number I’ve met who seem honest.
It’s sad.
I wonder how long I’ll have to worry about this bullshit.
A lot of people have told me,
“GACKT, you should be the head of the company”
But,
I’m not skilful enough to do management and produce work at the same time.
No,
maybe I could if I decided to,
but I’m absolutely certain that if I did
the quality of my shows would decrease.
If I did a show while doing the accounting,
GACKT shows would be worthless.
My creative style is well defined.
I am very particular
about the works,
shows, plays,
movies, concerts,
lives, artworks
and any and all forms of expression
I want to create.
I abhor the commercialist way of doing things.
At this point in time,
I’m in complete opposition to management people
Read more… [http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/gackt]
*This article is posted in full on the GACKT Blog Magazine “OH! MY! GACKT!!!”*
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/gack
Thanks to: Amaiakuyume