8. Careless Input
You’ve always said, “Don’t make an unnecessary effort.”
Yeah. I do say, “Make an effort,” but I also say, “Don’t make an unnecessary effort.”
Right. A lot of the time when you see young people working hard, you think, “Is that really the right time and place to be investing so much effort?”
Right.
To put it another way, I think there are times when you’re working hard in your own way, even if that activity wouldn’t generally be considered working hard. You yourself may not have noticed, but there must be times when you’re doing something that would be hard for someone like me.
Hmm, I wonder. Maybe that’s true.
To use myself as an example, when I’m watching some pointless drama, I’m working really hard. In other words, when I’m working to try to label a certain drama as being no good, I’m concentrating for all I’m worth.
(laughs)
My head is running in high gear. “Maybe it has a redeeming point here… Nope. That’s bad, too. Hey, this is all right… Nope, the execution is poor. He just doesn’t get it. Aw, the actor doesn’t get it. Oh, no… Aw man, now they’re worried about the sponsor…” When I’m watching TV and grumbling to myself like that, I’m more serious than I am during meetings.
(laughs) These last few years, I’ve been watching NHK’s morning TV dramas…
I’ve heard it’s good. Ge Ge Ge no Nyobo. (A Japanese television drama series)
Yeah. It’s been a while since I could enjoy something that’s made by the Kanto production team.
Ah, I thought so.
I was watching the previous dramas for a long time, too, but every time I would also sit there telling myself how it was all wrong.
Exactly! (laughs)
Yeah. (laughs)
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a great discovery!
Yeah! (laughs)
Up until today, I’d never been able to explain this to my company’s employees very well, but today I was able to. When they try to generate output and produce something, their hard work comes too late. When you do a poor job during times of input, there’s no way your output will be good.
Ah!
If you don’t eat right, you won’t have good bowel movements.
(laughs)
So when that rare good drama comes along, like Moteki, I watch it with an intense stare. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. And when a drama is no good, I’m like, “Argh! So close!”
You’re really serious about it.
It isn’t easy! It’s like when I look at my dog. How should I put it? I tremble all over with a sense of discovery even if I’m just watching my dog, like I’m a first-year college student watching a Jean-Luc Godard film for the first time. But, if you ask me, not many people think that way and are happy to disengage their minds when there’s so much in front of them to be discovered.
I think the Kansai production crew for the morning TV drama series is superb in the way they offer direction during filming.
Oh, really?
The reality that is created in a drama changes drastically depending on whether or not there is a director who understands the point of the drama. It isn’t so much the structure of the scenario that’s important. It falls flat if it isn’t directed right during filming. Eliminating those places where something just doesn’t feel right is our job, and I think about that when I watch TV.
Yeah, me too. All the time. Like what I would do if I were in charge. Even though I’m not. That’s exactly what Iwata-san calls a “sense of ownership.”
Right. We watch TV with a sense of ownership. It’s the same when we watch a play or an event.
So worries never cease. Even in my down time, I’m working!
Yeah, we’re working even then. (laughs)
(laughs)
Like, I wonder why my wife isn’t listening to what I say. But then I wonder why she found something else to be sort of funny. I’m just as tense before her as I would be in front of a million people. So (addressing his company’s staff) everyone, you’re slacking in life, all of you!
(laughs)