Italiano
GACKT OFFICIAL BLOG: First time in Korea after awhile
GACKT Official Blog update. Translation below:
In the past week, because I had so little time, I didn't get to sleep much,
and spent everyday with in a state of insufficient sleep.
Well,
it's also been awhile since I've worked without sleeping like this.
Recently, I've spent each day trying to make time for myself as much as possible,
but I wonder how long it's been since I've worked from dawn till dawn like this.
This is... someone who isn't joking around...
Even so,
this project spreads across the world as the days pass.
I suppose, without a doubt, my body is tired but
my heart is enjoying it so much that it can't be helped.
Even my body weight, which dropped to 66.6kg at the end of fasting,
has returned to 70kg now with muscles built up.
Finding more and more things to do,
we made time to communicate with those overseas in the middle of the night,
carried out various adjustments in the Asian region during the day,
and met relevant parties who we could meet in Japan in hourly sessions.
Meal times have become quite a breather too,
and actually, my friends have taken care to treat us
to all kinds of delicious food.
Even though it would've been alright if they didn't do that either.
I've many kind friends.
Now,
this project that I'm working this hard on will probably
go public at the start of next year.
By then, there will definitely be many people who will be surprised by it,
or have the reaction that "As expected, that's amazing!".
Whichever it is,
I can only give it a shot and do what I can now.
Right now, it seems like I can't connect to the internet in the plane,
but while taking a break, I'm writing this passage.
I can also hear a voice telling me to sleep though...
Yesterday, I arrived in Korea early in the morning,
I went back to Japan without even staying for a day.
For one part of this project,
I've also met a chairman of one of Korea's Chaebols that everyone will definitely know,
but I never even expected that our meeting last for such a long time.
As expected, a meeting that involves an interpreter is tougher than imaginable.
I have to wait for my explanation in Japanese to be translated into Korean.
I thought that my level of Korean won't be enough for business conversations but
it was proven that it's overwhelmingly more effective
if I was able to talk about my work myself after all.
After calming down for a bit,
I'll start studying again to the level where it can even be used for business.
Being happy with being at a level that's only good for picking up girls is completely meaningless.
I'll start from scratch again.
I'll do more.
Even so,
having so many people gathered here at Gimpo airport is problematic...
I thought that I had to go right before but
everyone gave me such wonderful smiles that I took it as something good.
It feels like they shared their happiness with me.
As I was writing this passage,
I've arrived in Haneda in the blink of an eye.
Alright then, I guess I'll head off for meetings.
Anyway...
As expected, life is fun!
Source: GACKT Blog
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA
GACKT OFFICIAL BLOG: Support to head for the top of the world
GACKT Official Blog update. Translation below:
I trained with my friends for the first time in awhile.
Today, a new friend has joined us.
He is Umeno Genji, the WBC Muay Thai world champion.
He's going to challenge the most prestigious title in Muay Thai,
in other words, the world's top title, in a month's time.
It would be nice if my knowledge could help him in a good way, even if a little,
so I taught him a few things.
For Genji, who has been getting great results thus far,
it would be good if he can use my knowledge while training,
and bring it into the competition
to bring him further to the top of the world.
Exchanging information like this
and enhancing each other's knowledge and skills has nothing to do with age.
The most important thing of all
is how high you're aiming
and how you intend to live and deal with that.
We started training,
and checked how much skills he actually possesses.
Of course,
it's easy to imagine that for someone who has beaten the world,
his talent and physical ability is quite high.
When I see his kick, it indeed overflows with power.
However,
if he continues kicking like this,
I could see that other areas of his body
might break or fail.
For him, as a 29 year old,
another point is also
how long he can continue his current activities that last throughout the day.
If my knowledge can be the spark
that increases his power and speed, it would be good.
I believe that the most important thing is
to figure out how one can make their body evolve further
and create a body that's of an even higher level without destroying it.
In the past,
when active martial artists
and fighters came to exchange knowledge,
they said that they've often seen people like them
being forced out of their active lifestyles because of small accidents.
This doesn't only happen in the martial arts world,
and the same can be said for any other sport.
I suppose that somewhere,
with the experiences that they have accumulated of having that vigour while they were young,
they have that confidence that it'll somehow be alright.
Because of that, everyone knows what must be done
and what they must be careful of but
in reality, there are shockingly few professionals and athletes
who live each day being conscious of that
and constantly keep that in mind to take care of their bodies in detail.
Actually, there are many people who,
only start to become aware of what they need to do
after getting injured for the first time.
Your body is something that you need to continuously maintain.
I suppose, mentally, it's also exceptionally painful to indifferently
increase that troublesome work as you age...
Most of the time,
that small injury
will often come back as a major setback at the very end.
It's sad but
no matter what sport you're a professional athlete for,
it is different from normal occupations,
in the fact that the period of time that you're active for is exceptionally short.
Of course,
as a professional athlete, the rewards that you get is much larger than others' for awhile but
if you divide it over the long lifespan of a person,
you'll also realise that, unexpectedly, there isn't as much in amount either.
That's why
active athletes are worthy of our respect
for doing these for whole days.
The need to think and manage things based on the amount of time they have left in their own professional career,
along with needing to add additional training to their usual,
overall, it's much more than what a young athlete will need to do.
If the knowledge and experience I've accumulated can be of use to him, even if a little, it would be great.
And if he could reach even greater heights in the world with that,
it will also be returns to myself
and to the value of my existence.
Training is tough,
but I've always thought that
there needs to be strong tension for the fun to come out.
Today's training was tough but
despite that, I saw a great smile on him when they were leaving, and seeing that,
I thought, mm,
today started out great as well,
and with self-satisfaction and a modest happiness in my heart,
I went for a meeting after that.
Ahー, I'm tired.
Anyway, it's the 8th day of fasting.
Source: GACKT Blog
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA
GACKT OFFICIAL BLOG: Lose fastidiousness, and you lose depth in life
GACKT Official Blog update. Translation below:
During these few days,
I've been having a large-scale project meeting
from morning till night for a new project that has finally started.
Last week was a rather tough week, and I barely slept.
I had to simultaneously be in contact with people from around the world,
and once again, keenly felt how troublesome it was
to get things done at the same time between countries with time differences.
It's better to have a smaller time difference after all.
I was working to finish the set up until I left Japan but
in any case, I only have one body.
Even while I made calls and took calls from my partners around the world,
I have to finish the organisation in Japan to a certain extent...
No matter how much time I have, there isn't enough at all...
However,
no matter how little sleep I get, it's really interesting
to start a project this big from the organisation.
Fatigue and the like isn't a big issue.
Work is my hobby... that's what I often say but
I sincerely do think so.
I suppose this is a sickness...
In the past,
I had a conversation with my friends and
in the end, because we found that setting up work was the most enjoyable,
we ended up doing nothing but work.
I suppose this is also the reason why my hobbies don't increase much.
That said, breathers are important too.
Today, as a breather,
I went to check the interim progress of the
[Lamborghini Eva Runaway Mode Spec] which is still being put together.
That's fun.
Of course, riding in a car is also enjoyable but
more than that, putting a car together is more fun.
It's a similar feeling to setting work up.
Indeed, putting things together takes time.
But in those stages of setting things up, if you cut corners,
the number of times you have to redo things may simply increase or
even the image of your final goal, depending on where you are,
might just crumble.
【Set-up is 90%】
This is something I keep in mind regardless of what I'm doing.
If you're going to do that half-heartedly then you might as well just stop.
All the time you spent on that will be wasted.
If you don't do it with those feelings,
your time will not come back to you.
Time is the most precious asset there is,
and people who treat that value with disdain,
and those who are unable to understand that value, would have decided that they will never to work.
Well,
you'd think that it's common sense in the professional world but
there are quite a lot of people who are incapable of doing this properly.
I will not stand for such people
who waste my precious time in my life.
Right then,
upon arriving at the workshop, I immediately went to look at the car.
Absolutely stunning.
The colour has been done up well too.
My previous Lamborghini was done up with wrapping that was in trend at the time but
wrapping is still wrapping after all.
No matter what,
the colour looked shallow and cheap, and I quickly got sick of it.
As expected, unless the colour gets painted on, it will never become the colour I visualised.
Wrapping looks fine in photos but,
when you actually look at it up close, you just can't remove the cheap feeling.
That's just how it is.
Not only is there a huge difference between the amount time spent for that and for painting,
the fundamental idea of how the colour is actually put on is different.
If you want to do it similar to dressing up, then wrapping might work but
for a car with this many aspects lined up on such a large surface,
it's without a doubt that painting is the best method after all.
However,
it costs an exceptional amount of time and money.
This can't be helped.
The better the skill of an artisan, the higher their price gets.
In this aspect, its the same no matter what industry it is but
I feel that it's especially similar to the industry of soba-making.
Although soba is actually the production of noodles,
all soba makers all use pretty much the same things, just buckwheat flour and water.
It can be said that the steps of kneading, hitting, and cutting are almost the same,
especially if they don't use binding agents.
However,
the skill of soba makers is truly outstanding.
And that,
is the reason why the price of soba is more expensive than other noodles,
it's pretty much like a fee you pay for the skill that they've mastered.
In other words, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to even say that soba is the ultimate noodle.
Of course,
there's probably more than one opinion to this but in the end, this is just my personal opinion.
There's a famous phrase with regards to mastering soba,
【3 years to master kneading the soba, 8 years to master the mixture】.
One theory is that, it will take more than a total of 20 years
to be able to make soba with the right balance
and a stable rhythm.
Of course,
there will be people who take this negatively.
I don't think so.
If you're simply hoping to master hitting the soba
or just to get the right mixture, I suppose you can master that in shorter period of time.
However,
to master everything there is to know about soba and it's long history,
along with how to deal with buckwheat,
the different methods and concepts from different regions,
more than anything else, a sturdy technique,
and including your own ideals into all of that,
I definitely don't think that 20 years is a long time.
Recently,
with various things being simplified for mass production,
and knowledge and skills being put into simple systems,
a lot of people think that it's a good thing that it can be effectively taught like this.
By doing this,
we are simply increasing the number that have mastered the skills
and steadily decreasing those who pursue the essence of things, in other words, genuity.
Training is definitely not fun.
There's a lot that's tough.
There are many things that aren't related to skills.
The main point is whether a person really has
the conviction to pick up the entire load and bear it.
The more we get into an era where information is easily obtainable,
the more simple and simplistic things get but
certain things that cannot be delivered
or conveyed like that
will become clear even when you look back in history.
It also becomes a question of
"How many genuine soba makers are there in Japan now?".
From their point of view, as artisans with a lot of pride,
『If it's that easily attainable then no one will have a hard time』
is what they'd probably say scornfully but...
Well,
the increase in the number of people who only understand this at surface value
might also be because of the spread of the modern disease.
Artisans and businessmen are different.
From a business point of view, they will priorities profit and pick whichever creates higher productivity.
For an artisan,
even as they disregard the business and go beyond those concepts,
I suppose they're just people who are aiming to master whatever they do.
This isn't about which is right or wrong.
In a world that's overflowing with convenient things,
people who choose to go down the difficult path of being an artisan
are probably great assets to the country.
The country has to preserve and protect such people more,
and has to invest and protect things like traditional skills in future,
and more people recognise that these people are
valuable cultural assets that are closely linked to our casual lives,
the general respect for them will be increased as well.
I think that to refuse to become an artisan simply because it looks tough,
or because it looks difficult,
or because it looks painful,
might be largely linked with how
little respect the country, on the whole, has for them...
It is also a fact that, because a person is being given respect,
they can be proud of their work no matter how hard it is.
Well,
I've strayed quite far away from talking about the car but
when I see the skills of artisans before my eyes, it really hits me.
This lustre and depth,
it changes so much depending on the angle.
Such a gorgeous paint job is rarely achieved.
I guess that's the skill of an artisan... the words just came out.
A smile just appears without thinking.
Even so,
as I checked the detailed areas over and over,
ideas kept popping up one after another,
like, a little more should be done here,
or maybe on this side, that is better, and such.
Then
I started to work on additional colour design myself,
thinking, this isn't it... that isn't it...,
While checking over and over, I made changes as I went.
This period of time is really unbearably enjoyable.
In planning for the tour and staging,
in planning a business,
in planning for a car.
In the end, the extent of my own involvement,
even if it's just in creating,
is about how much I stick to my particularities and deliver it.
In business, too,
it is something that I want to be proud of,
that is made up of both efficiency and that fastidiousness.
Lose fastidiousness, and you lose depth in life.
Source: GACKT Blog
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA
GACKT OFFICIAL BLOG: This change from yesterday
GACKT Official blog update. Translation below:
After the Kikkashou ended,
I went to have dinner at a friend's home in Ashiya too.
Since we were being hit directly by the typhoon,
I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to arrive safely but
instead,
there weren't many cars on the roads outside either,
and we arrived from Shin-Kobe station earlier than expected.
I was at a dinner party where the chefs' children were gathered too.
It was the first time in a long while that I'm meeting my friend, and he looked great
but it's a real pity that it was raining.
We originally planned to have a barbeque while relaxing and enjoying wine but
unfortunately, because of the typhoon, we had to eat in the house.
Even so,
his home was so beautiful that it surprised me.
The way it was designed was so much to my liking that I was moved.
For some reason, I was happy that
he had the taste to create such a home, even though it's not mine.
This time, we took out a '98 Grands Echezeaux for dinner.
『I don't drink wine so I have no clue at all〜
Well I don't know whether it's to GACKT's taste』
Although he said all that, it's rare that we'd be having such good wine.
Absolutely wonderful...
The cheeses lined up before me looked delicious.
I took a bite to try it and it was even more delicious than I expected.
I'm pretty sure that this is meant to go with the wine.
We opened the wine and tasted it.
It's been awhile since I had some but it really tastes wonderful.
Why does it taste so good...
If the same wine can have such a different flavour
I might really become unable to drink other wines.
It appears that they've procured the best quality meats for today too.
The chef's children seem rather spirited too.
The sight of the young ones doing their best is beautiful.
To see people putting in such effort moves my heart.
Having them make me feel that I still need to work harder makes me happiest.
At the end, we were feeling happily drunk,
and I arm wrestled with everyone.
We challenged with the wager of whether customers who visit their restaurants the next day
will be able to get 30% off on their meals.
Like children, we arm wrestled pretty seriously.
Just like that,
I went into a room in the middle of the worsening typhoon and went straight into deep sleep mode.
Then I headed to Tokyo at 6 in the morning.
I had quite a few meetings
so I headed to the station in the morning.
It wasn't that hectic inside the station.
I gave TAKUMI an English lesson in the bullet train.
In the blink of an eye, we reached Tokyo.
Before the meeting, I went to get my hair cut.
This hairstyle is required for this time's work but
this being the first time in a long while since I did a while bleach, my scalp hurts.
I had it bleached 3 times,
and my hair, gradually, was being cut shorter.
A rather dangerous feeling is emanating.
As expected, I like short hairstyles after all.
It's, of course, easy to manage, but
it feels like I'm more suited for short hair.
I personally don't like that long hair tends to annoy me,
and with it being this short, I wouldn't touch my hair with my fingers too.
Hygienically speaking, touching your hair with your fingers isn't good.
And touching your face with those fingers is even worse.
Without being consciously aware of it,
a person will subconsciously touch their face more than 500 times a day.
Letting things be like this will naturally make your face go haywire.
The point is that it's dirty.
Especially with how dirty phone screens are,
having the same amount of germs that can be found on a toilet.
Even if you always keep it clean
there's quite a lot of germs that remains on your phone so
it's better if you stop touching your phone while eating.
Step by step, while I'm getting my hair cut,
I'll check my hair style.
I really think that's it's alright even if I'm bald but
as expected, that request was ignored.
The final hair colour and length
came together quite well.
It's also different from the aura thus far.
It emanates quite the air of danger.
From yesterday's perspective, I suppose this leaves a completely different impression.
Leaving my personal preferences aside,
having such an image occasionally is fun.
Alright then,
I wonder if work will go well.
Although I've yet to depart, until then,
I have to build my body up properly.
I'll study my English properly too.
Until then.
Source: GACKT Blog
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA
GACKT OFFICIAL BLOG: The Kikkashou was that awesome...
GACKT Official blog update. Translation below:
I quickly got onto the train to Kyoto.
I'm going there because I've been invited as a guest for the Kikkashou at Kyoto Racecourse which is happening on the next day though.
Upon arriving in Kyoto, I went for a meeting for another matter at the Four Seasons Hotel.
This being my first time at Kyoto's Four Seasons, I was honestly surprised.
It's uncommon for the interior to be done up so luxuriously.
I heard that the price of staying in this hotel starts from 300,000 yen a night but,
it was packed with foreign guests.
It's wonderful.
Although the service industry makes up about 70% of Japan,
most of it don't go well.
One of the problems that led to this,
stems from the average prices for dining overseas being cheaper than it is here.
A lunch that costs 800〜1000 yen is honestly weird.
A restaurant can't operate decently at that price.
I think that large eatery chains that have been established as exploitative
generally have a fundamental issue to begin with,
in terms of having a bad balance in Japanese pricing and labour costs but...
Anyway,
after the meeting at Four Seasons concluded,
I went to 【すし岩 (Sushi Iwa)】, one of the restaurants I liked.
For the first time in a long while, I was meeting
GemCEREY's President Nakano, who's like an elder brother to me, for dinner.
As we haven't met in a long while, we talked about a variety of things and
while we talked about work, conversations about anomalies in Japan's
no, the world's, monetary policies often came up as well.
With such unconventional monetary easing policies,
they've already printed more than 5 times the number of banknotes.
Exactly where is the credibility of paper money here?
I can already obviously see the world turning weirder
with such a huge country printing money freely like this.
I wonder if the general public understands that
the world is being driven into a state that has never been experienced before
Simply thinking about it is frightening...
Anyway,
the next day, I headed over to Kyoto Racecourse in the morning.
The weather was so rough that typhoon warnings were issued,
but the venue was filled with people.
It was the first time that I'm visiting Kyoto Racecourse, and it's more sturdy than I expected.
In any case, it's a large facility.
Then,
at the pre-event, I was to predict the winner of that day's Kikkashou and
going straight to the point, my prediction for 1st place was impressively spot on.
Having never actually seen Japan's races live before,
I was again surprised that we could watch at this vicinity.
This time,
the Kikkashou was being held at this Kyoto Racecourse.
Why is the Kikkashou so amazing to begin with?
Firstly, this race stretches over a distance of 3000m.
If we were to put it in a human's equivalent,
it's almost like running a whole marathon at full speed.
Next,
they go up and down at the same time in the middle of it.
Turning a corner while going down,
means that they have to keep their centrifugal force way out while riding.
If they simply racing with all their energy at the beginning,
the wind resistance tires the first horse and wears it out.
How they should work their way in the race
depends on the compatibility between the jockey's control and the horse,
as well as the potential that the horse possesses.
And,
the fact that none of these horses have ever run this race before
makes things interesting.
Above all,
today, bad weather, that has rarely been seen in the history of this race, has arrived.
With abnormally strong winds from the typhoon, facing these winds will take up quite a lot of physical strength.
The horses racing behind will find dirt and mud flying back at them
that were kicked up by the horses in front.
No one could've foreseen this race.
Actually, when the race started,
despite that the audience all had their umbrellas up
I could see that they were all pretty excited.
In the heavy rain.
the enthusiasm doesn't end at all.
Right before the race, as terribly strong winds blew,
the typhoon warning from the phones started sounding together.
These conditions are the worst.
Even so, they have to race.
The race starts and the horses fly out all at once.
I looks like they were a collective group of energy, frustrated with the rain as they ran.
Beautiful.
The ground rumbles with the galloping of the horses running before my eyes.
Until they made one round around the course, their positions did not change.
Just as they were making the final turn at the descending corner,
something happened all at once,
and all the horses were race side by side.
Amazing.
Then,
my prediction, Demuro who raced on a horse called Kiseki (Miracle),
rushed forward from behind.
It was extremely fast.
It looks as if he raced at a different dimension compared to the other horses.
I felt that just this one animal was different.
Absolutely stunning...
The word unintentionally fell from my lips.
Then, from the back, a second horse,
that I didn't expect at all, closed the distance in the same way.
This second horse was one that nobody foresaw.
Splendid!
Kiseki being in first place was according to expectations but
because Clincher and Popocatépetl came in 2nd and 3rd,
the rate of the triple daily double jumped up.
Hmm,
this has far exceeded my expectations.
I completely lost
This time, I bought bets too but
since I intended for the triple daily double to be the main,
I made a loss on the whole.
Oh well, it can't be helped.
Even so, it was an impressive result.
The final odds for the triple daily double was 1363 times.
Hmm,
I wanted to get that.
Looks like I have to follow my initial intuition after all.
Adding in extra information doesn't work.
Maybe I should
visit a racecourse somewhere again.
To think that it's this interesting.
Source: GACKT Blog
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA