スキ・キライの摩訶不思議 Everyone has likes and dislikes.

Inside each person are their own diverse interests and tastes, and inside these little conversations about people’s likes, the pillars of their philosophies and ideologies breathe… What kind of things do you like? What kind of things do you dislike? We sit down together with people inviting us to take a peek at their most intimate thoughts.

Maomaonet Interview No.16
Osamu Sato
For December 2001, the final interview of this year, we have the editor-in-chief of Maomaonet, active in all fields of creative work, Mr. Osamu Sato. Illustration, graphic design, music, games, CD-ROM content, art exhibition planning and more, we had a chance to talk with Mr. Sato, who is active in several different worlds, surpassing limits of genre. This page is always from the point of view of a conversation with a creative person, but this time we changed up who is asking the questions. Well, what does he have to say?


スキなもの LIKE

(Embedded block quote) Tools, pieces of art, music, movies, people, food, alcohol, places, I like everything.
Also things within there where you can feel “origins”.

What I like is making things. Or, looking at something, or listening to it. Also things where you can feel where it came from – its “origins”. To say it in a cool way, things where you feel “eternity”. I think that originally is something that exists forever, and is immortal. On top of that, “things that are pop,” or “things that are sociable”. That’s something I pay a lot of attention to when I make things. Of course I don’t know whether it’s all going perfectly or not while I’m making it… So I like tools, pieces of art, music, movies, people, food, alcohol, places, … I like everything. Until now I’ve always been the one asking the questions in this column, asking a variety of creators what they like, but actually answering the question is difficult. When you think about what you “like”, a lot of things come to mind! I only noticed this after I’m the one being asked the question!

I guess I’ll have to enumerate everything that I like won’t I.

Talking about tools, then it’s traditional folk tools and methods. Especially old Imari ware . I go to antique markets every week. Just for antiques that I can use on a basic level, so I don’t buy the expensive stuff. I like things from the Bakumatsu to Meiji Periods , and Prussian blue things , etc.. You can really feel the “eternity” within porcelain and earthenware.

For works of art, there are a lot of things that I like, but if I had to pick just one, I’d pick Russian avant-garde works. I probably like those the best. Compositions of red, black, rectangles, and circles and typography have a sort of eternal beauty to me.

For music, it’s different making it versus listening to it. From a music creation point of view, you really think about “where is my origin”, or “what am I”. To put it simply, it’s modern music that incorporates techno, just modern music, that I’m allowed to make. While I grew up on the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and I have an undying love for funk and soul music, no matter how you think about it, none of the genes of that music exists inside my origin. So I can’t think that I want to become them. Of course I may be able to collaborate with someone like that. There’s a lot of sampling going on now however. In all types of music, the point you sample becomes data, all of it becoming alike and interchangeable, and then you can make something new out of that. In a way, you can become a dictator. But, it must be reiterated that this is in order to make modern music.

Movies. This one is difficult. If I have to choose something, then “Pierrot Le Fou”. That in particular has an “eternal” theme. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, please give it a watch. In a lot of meanings of the word, it’s a “cool” movie.

People. This is difficult. Normally you’d probably say some famous historical figure, but if I said someone modern, then Hideo Nomo. He is his own origin. He’s not Ichiro. And what is eternal isn’t the Giants. Incidentally, I was a baseball boy when I was a kid.

Food. For this, eating something and making something is a different experience. When eating something, I guess I like the things that I can’t make myself. For soba it’s yabu, and within that I like the yabu soba in Ueno the best. For sushi, it’s Edo-mae. But it’s also hard to discount the mackerel sushi that I eat when I’m home in Kyoto. With soba and sushi, it’s not that just anything is okay, but rather that I like anything delicious. And if I say that, then it’s really just that I like anything that’s delicious! And that’s the case for anyone! But with soba and sushi, you feel the “origin” from what the chef makes, and that’s something that exists eternally.

And one more thing, I like the weird versions of Japanese food that you eat when you go overseas. For example negimaki, and I like Californian food too. And from there, that’s a hint for the Sato who loves food. I like dishes where different types of food are battling each other, like making something new out of something you’ve previously eaten somewhere. For the most part, when I go somewhere overseas and come back home I end up wanting to recreate something I ate there. And in that, I add a “J-taste” and make something a little bit different, and that’s fun.

Talking about alcohol, when you make it it’s technically illegal, so you have to drink it yourself. Leaving drinking during meals as something separate, I love going barhopping by myself. In one day I’ll go to four places typically. Or on the high end I’ll go to as many as eight. At one place I’ll have just one or two drinks. I’ll go to different places with different types of atmospheres, people, and types of clientele. Basically I’ll decide my drink only after entering the place, so I end up drinking a wide variety. Everyone’s equal in places like that.

Places. I like the ocean, I like the mountains, and I like the city. But I feel like the place I can be for the longest is inside a city. And I’m living in a city now, too. For example, when I go on vacation, when I’m walking around and exploring a city in Asia, I’ll feel like I’m getting heatstroke, it’ll be pouring rain, people might be following me trying to sell me things, and even to put it flatteringly, it’s not sanitary. But you feel like there’s something in there for you to discover, and you feel a thrill in the chaos and disorder in a city like that.

Talking about things you like one bite at a time, when you start to think about it things just start coming out one after another. Maybe this was a bit of an unproductive question after all? To everyone who answered these questions in previous interviews, thank you for your cooperation. I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart.

For me, in the end, I came to understand that I like things where I can feel an “origin” within them. Recently I was talking with a friend of mine, and I asked about this kind of thing. This friend of mine has a kid in elementary school, they were listening to a Visual-Kei CD, and my friend apparently tried introducing them to a David Bowie CD they had. And I thought “that’s the right thing to do” too! Talking about David Bowie, it’s gotta be “Blue Eyed Soul”. I originally learned about black musicians’ music through the Beatles and Stones. It’s okay to get interested in that no matter from where you come upon it. But while it expands out from there, I’d want you to put forth the effort to search for the “origin” in that. Me myself, I’m always thinking that by looking at a lot of different things, and thinking about them, I can know more about myself, and that that will help me in my creative process in the future.

キライなもの DISLIKE

(Embedded block quote) What gets on my mind the most is when someone has different ethical views about the world. For example, people who litter in the street.

What gets on my mind the most is when someone has different ethical views about the world. For example, people who litter in the street, or people who finish eating convenience store food and just leave it there on the ground. Or people who will have a pet, and then after it dies just throw it away like it's garbage. People who use casual speech to people higher up than you.  People whose cell phones go off during class.

Of course, more than that, differences in ethical views like this are just out of the question. I don't think I'm perfect, but in someone's personal morals, you really get to know the self. You get to know your origin. Duty, empathy, etiquette, if you don't know that much about yourself, it's all bound to go wrong for you. And so from there, if that's how you read the atmosphere of the mood around you, you're not going to go well in your relation to society and the people around you. Of course, depending on the nation or the religion of somebody their ethical views on the world will vary, so it's not something you can apply a one-size-fits-all idea to. But, somewhere, I feel like an individual has a common sense that can overcome a fundamental framework like that. And if there's not, then there's no reason to think the people of the world would be able to surpass their race and religion to love each other. But maybe we're not able to after all.

10年後の自分

I’m foundationally a graphic designer at my core. But, while doing my work, I come into contact with computers, and in the way that I make music I love, make visuals, make books, make games, etc., I feel like I’ve gradually become borderless. In being creative, having “there are no wrong answers” as a sort of slogan, I’ve had the opportunity to work with several types of media professionally. And before I realized it, my hobbies and my interests became my job. Now, with the experience of the different “worlds” that I’ve worked in, I hope to keep this Maomaonet site alive. The connections with people too, as well as the creative expression, and the projects and ideas cultivated through games as well. I hope it can be a place where all the things I’ve gathered up to this point can all be linked together.

There may be people here who don’t know, but Maomaonet was started in May 2000. So in May 2001 we passed our one year anniversary. And in that period of time we had a lot of trial and error. Publishing on the web, it’s a type of media that doesn’t have a point of “completion”.  It’s moving around every day, like some soft and malleable kind of living creature. So that’s why it’s fun. You can implement things immediately, and if it’s no good you can challenge yourself to create something else. It’s a medium where repeating that kind of process is fun. So persistence becomes a strength. I’m very grateful that we’re gradually getting more and more hits, and I think it would be cool if Maomaonet could still be going ten years from now. That’s what I think. Right now it’s a matter of not enough manpower, but I want to continue on to the point where it’s the kind of site where people say “it’s a fun place to visit”, or that “it’s interesting in a way”.

I don’t think my prediction for myself 10 years from now will stick, but within the things that I like, not necessarily my day job, I sometimes think, wouldn’t it be cool if I could become an old man where I’m able to incorporate my unique interests of antiques, food, and drink together into a bar that I run as a hobby? What do you think?

November 2001

○佐藤　理 Osamu Sato
Born in Kyoto. Representative of Outside Directors Company, Ltd.. Editor-in-chief of Maomaonet. Creating games, music, visuals, and websites centered on graphic design, no matter the medium. Notable works and main activities as listed below. Currently a part-time lecturer at Tokyo Gakugei University.
Outside Directors Company (OSD)
URL= http://www.osd.co.jp (New website)

Producing characters every week – “The Weekly Character” currently serialized on Maomaonet