Hi, this is Ito. Here’s my monthly report for March 🍝
Hiroyuki and Hiroki Azuma’s chat livestream was great
It’s just a casual chat, so it runs pretty long, but I enjoyed it a lot.
They talked about how Japanese culture places a lot of value on childlike innocence — how so much fiction here frames romance as something for young people, and how there’s relatively little erotica featuring older women. One of them pointed out that looking in the mirror as you age, feeling like you’re becoming uglier, might be making people unhappy — which eased, at least a little, the obsessive belief I’d been carrying that romance has to happen while you’re young.
They also touched on how, as public sentiment grows more extreme, we may not be able to avoid the risk of terrorism going forward. One point raised was that being “happy” might be key to resisting that pull — the idea being that if you’re somehow happy, you probably wouldn’t feel driven to commit an act of terrorism.
From there, quoting Hannah Arendt, one of them suggested that “making things” (monozukuri) is something we should value going forward — that was my favorite part personally. The idea was that “making things” holds the possibility of leaving hope for the future, and that in Japan, it’s “making things” rather than “politics” that underpins the public sphere.
I got to meet Yamazaki OK Computer
I heard that a writer I’d been curious about, Yamazaki OK Computer (Yamacon-san), was going to be at KOBE BOOK FAIR & MARKET 2026, so I went to meet them.
They’d just published a new book called Goodbye, Money Worship. I also loved their previous book, The Shitty, Boring Future We Might Be Able to Change Through Investing (affectionately nicknamed “Kusotsuma”), which I read and really enjoyed — they’re one of my favorite writers.
くそつまらない未来を変えられるかもしれない投資の話 | タバブックス『くそつまらない未来を変えられるかもしれない投資の話』ヤマザキＯＫコンピュータタバブックス
On the day, I actually got to meet them and also attended a talk event. Yamacon-san, Kakijiro Tokutani-san, and Nishimura-san of Haioku LLC held a talk together, and I really enjoyed listening in.
It was held at “Hotel New High-Octane,” an abandoned building that Nishimura-san had renovated into a hotel — such a stylish space that I’d love to come stay there sometime.
What stuck with me most from the talk was the idea that exchanges mediated by money involve a lot of energy loss. We exchange capital through money, and Nishimura-san pointed out that loss occurs in that conversion. He said he values renovating abandoned buildings using local materials, and tries not to pull in resources from elsewhere when there are already resources sitting dormant right there in the region.
Kakijiro Tokutani-san and Nishimura-san of Haioku LLC were both really interesting people, so definitely check them out.
Kakijiro Tokutani
I bought his book at the venue and read it. It was great.
いきなり知らない土地に新築を建てたい - クラフトインターネット日記01 | HuuuuHuuuuは全国47都道府県を飛び回る編集チームです。「今」をおもしろい未来へ押し進めるべく、既存の枠組みや思い込みに風穴を開けるための企画・コンテンツをつくっています。Huuuu｜編集の力で、今に風穴を
Haioku LLC
合同会社 廃屋廃材を活用し見捨てられた古い家屋に新たな価値を吹き込む廃屋グループ。愛されなくなった建物と人間の関係を紡ぎ直し、建築の再生を通じて忘れられた空間に物語を取り戻します。合同会社 廃屋
廃屋グループ (@haioku_group_and_bison) • Instagram photos and videos6,349 Followers, 9,050 Following, 249 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from 廃屋グループ (@haioku_group_and_bison)www.instagram.com
I love this tea room, it’s so cute. (Haven’t actually visited it in person yet.)
ハイオクイイイエ (@haioku_iiie) • Instagram photos and videos1,476 Followers, 6 Following, 329 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from ハイオクイイイエ (@haioku_iiie)www.instagram.com
Exhibition plans
I’m currently plotting to hold a few exhibitions this year. I’ve lived at Iikane Palette for two years now. Just getting to spend such carefree, enjoyable time there has made me happy. As my life has gradually settled down, I’ve started to feel like it might be okay to reach out for a new challenge.
So I want to put on an exhibition as a way of organizing and expressing everything I’ve been thinking about, and posing it as a question to everyone.
I spent the pandemic in Tokyo. Fresh out of school, I jumped straight into a startup, and between the busyness of work and the pandemic’s stay-at-home restrictions, I spent that time feeling really lonely.
From there, I took the plunge and moved to Iikane Palette. Looking back on the days I’ve spent there, I’ve realized that “comfort” — a sense of ease and belonging — has been a recurring theme.
Living in a share house with the members of Iikane Palette, I get a lot of chances to talk with people in an atmosphere of ease and security.
Whether it’s sipping tea in the kitchen and diving into an abstract question like “what do you think happiness is,” or sharing experiences across our different jobs and backgrounds —
There’s also an art gallery, guest rooms, and an event space attached, so all kinds of people come through, and all sorts of conversations grow out of that sense of ease.
I want to showcase this “sense of comfort,” and I want to think together with everyone about how we might take action to bring more of this “sense of comfort” out into the world.
Once the details come together, I’ll make an announcement. I’d love for you to come check it out then!