Yujin Exhibition at Nakahara Store(2022)

By chance I was born into this world, unexpectedly blessed with a good environment. I nearly died a few times, yet somehow survived, and by good fortune grew into an adult. By a strange twist of fate I encountered the Nakahara Mansion, built a small unmanned shop on a whim, went through many twists and turns, and eventually the Yujin event took shape. I learned to weave tarot like destiny, and in the end, all of it was captured through the lens of a camera. A chain of coincidences.

When I become trapped by what is right in front of me, I fumble with clumsy tricks and the world turns into a trompe-l’œil illusion. It can feel empty, and at the same time, astonishingly beautiful. The more I think about it, the more the world seems made of fiction — and yet, within those tiny jewels of experience lies a value that proves the world is real. A landscape inside the mind.

Since childhood I’ve been told many things:
“If you just play games all day, your life will be ruined.”
“Hobbies are the same as games — they’re meaningless.”
“If you quit your corporate job, nothing will be left.”
“Life is only a way to kill time.”

Even now, I still don’t have the answer. And precisely because of that, there is joy in thinking about how to live.

Some people find their path through games. Some come alive through their hobbies. Some leave their company jobs and gain more than they ever lost. Some live fully in the present, while others entrust their hopes to their children. Even if the world declares that everything is already determined, what we choose to do from that point on remains free.

To live
is to believe.

To believe
is to remember
what someone once felt.

— A saying from Arata, age four

That refrain continues to echo within me even now.