The next Kaihoku entry I'm going to (attempt to) translate would be Volume 38 - "Be cool". I think it's really apt, especially since I keep thinking how he's STILL kakkoii at this age, and how he has always been kakkoii. I've added the Japanese text so if you think something has been translated wrongly, or can be improved, please feel free to tell me ^^
Vol. 38 Be Cool
April 2008
“カッコいい”ってほめ言葉、自分に投げかけていただくこともあるけど、わりとありがたく受け取っていないかもしれない。具体的な感じがしなくてスル-してしまう。「So what?...だから何?」。その次に来るものが大事なんだと思う。
Although I sometimes get labelled as “kakkoii”, relatively (with regard to other compliments), I don’t really receive such a compliment with full gratitude. I don’t feel anything in particular, it just passes through. So what?...Dakara nani? I think what happens next is what’s important .
カッコよくなりたい。。。もちろん10代の頃はそう思っていた。それが "目的” だった時期もあったかもしれない。でも、それは何か本当にやりたいことの "手段” にすぎないとおもうようになってきた。
I want to be really kakkoii … of course when I was a teenager, I did think that way. There was perhaps even a time when being kakkoii was an objective. But, I’ve come to think that being kakkoii is just a means of doing something that you really want to do.
だいたいカッコよく”なる”って、すごく難しいことだと思うよ。カッコよく"する”っていうほうがまだ可能なんじゃないかな。それは、優先させるものだったり、アプローチのしかたにスタイルを持つようにすること。これは今の自分もやろうとしていることかもしれない。
For the most part, I think to “become” kakkoii is really difficult. I think to “do (something kakkoii-ly)” might be more possible. That is the priority, and also the approach to carry a certain style. I guess that is also something that I’m trying to do right now.
自分自身をカッコ悪いなあと思うのは、自分にウソをついてしまいそうになるとき。いいとおもうものをいいと言えないっていうか。それだけはしたくないと自分に言い聞かせていることでもいるから。人に対しても、素晴らしいな、カッコいいなと思ったら、その人と張ろうとするのではなくて、ちゃんと敬意を持ちたい。最近思ったのは、ギャル雑誌の人たちって実際につくっているのものと、自分たちのカッコとのギャップがないの。ウソがない。それはすごくいいなと思うた。
For me, what’s really uncool is when it’s likely that you’re lying to yourself. For instance, you won’t say that something is good even if you think that it is. I don’t want to do that since these are still things that I would nonetheless say to myself. Even for people, if you think that someone is wonderful or kakkoii , you don’t stick to that person, but you’d want to properly respect him instead. What I’ve thought recently was that for those in Gal magazines, there is actually no gap between what they create and their kakkoiiness. There is no lie (falsehood). I think that’s a really good thing.