All Nippon Renovation (ANR) interacts with many staff and clients every day.
In the interviews we will be publishing from now on, we will be focusing on people involved with ANR.
For the first installment, we interviewed Yusuke Sakaki (hereinafter referred to as Yusuke), who joined the company in October of last year.
While attending a vocational school, Yusuke works at the ANR Toranomon office, where he is in charge of creative work.
We spoke to him in detail about everything from how he joined ANR to his lifestyle.
■ When I was a boy, I wanted to be a manga artist
-- I saw Yusuke's storyboards during the video production meeting, and they were really cool (※1).
Thank you. I am a storyboard artist at ANR, but I am also studying business through fashion at school.
Drawing is just a hobby, not a profession, so I never thought it would become a job.
I loved drawing since I was a child and drew pictures every day in class. Until I was in the fifth grade of elementary school, I wanted to be a manga artist.
--So you wanted to be a manga artist until you were in fifth grade.
That's right. When I was in the fifth grade, my teacher put a guitar in the classroom and started playing the guitar and singing in front of everyone during recess.
Nobody is listening though. (Laughs)
But the sight of it left an impression on me, and it made me want to try doing something like that during the class presentation.
A good friend of mine started playing the guitar so I started playing too and then I made the shift completely to music.
-- You still haven't entered the fashion world? (laughs)
Not yet. (laughs) After becoming a manga artist, my next dream is to become a guitarist.
It was with the guitar that I first felt the joy of being able to do something and the sense of "becoming able to do it."
Even if I practice a lot and still can't play it, when I wake up after going to sleep I'll be able to play it.
After that, while I was working with music, I watched music videos and noticed that the clothes were very stylish, and I became interested in what the members of RADWIMPS were wearing. I looked into it and found out that they were wearing Yohji Yamamoto's clothes, and from there I became interested in fashion and entered the industry.
When I was in high school, I wanted to be a musician, but I also decided to go to fashion school.
- So you chose fashion over music.
That's right. I was really torn and asked a lot of people for advice. Should I go for music or fashion?
If you choose the path of music, you can become a music professional, a producer, a CD shop clerk, a sound engineer, a stage set-up person,
It opened up a lot of different options, but I didn't want to do any of them; I just wanted to perform.
In the fashion industry, I wanted to work in sales, buy or do anything to do with clothes, so I went to fashion school.
Up until now I've been focusing on creative things, so there are many aspects of logic that I don't understand, and I'm currently studying.
My Encounter with ANR
- Can you tell us what made you join ANR?
I learned about ANR when Mr. Togashi appeared as a special lecturer in one of my classes.
At that time, they said they were looking for interns, so I contacted them, and when I talked to them, it sounded interesting, so I decided to join, and I ended up drawing pictures. (laughs)
After listening to Mr. Togashi's story, I thought it was cool and I strongly felt that this is how it should be.
When I was working somewhere else before, I was liked by a big shot and had the opportunity to go out drinking with many famous people.
There were many people there making money in unfair ways, and some even making money from products that were not good by hyping them up with advertising and promotion.
I realized that I had been influenced by advertising up until that point, and when I saw the reality of the situation, I decided to leave the industry.
It was around that time that Mr. Togashi was giving a class, and when I heard about the difference between promotion, advertising and PR, I thought it was amazing and went to hear him speak.
If I didn't have experience in another industry, I don't think I would have responded to what Togashi had to say.
-- It resonated with you because it was based on your own experience.
Perhaps that experience has sharpened my senses.
After hearing his story, I was impressed that there are people who run their businesses like this.
I used to think that the world was run by people in bad habits, but when I met Mr. Togashi, I realized that there are people out there who run businesses with kindness.
I also want to be a manager in the future, but while I don't want to use shady methods like the ones I used to work for, I also wonder if I would be able to survive if I used honest methods.
When I saw Togashi trying to make the world a better place while making everyone excited, I thought, "This is it."
Everyone around him is a nice person, and I would like to run the business in a similar way to Mr. Togashi.
- During your internship, did you mention that you like drawing?
I joined the company without any particular discussion about anything like that.
After I joined the company, I was asked to draw storyboards, but I had no idea what a storyboard was, so I looked up "What is a storyboard?" (laughs)
- Are you enjoying your current job?
Thanks to you I feel blessed and happy.
-- It sounds like a job advertisement. (Laughs)
I really do. (laughs)
I consider myself very lucky.
If my internship had been scheduled differently, I would never have come to ANR.
It's rare to have a business manager close to you at school.
Even if you do an internship at a large company, you won't have the opportunity to talk directly with the management.
The office was beautiful and it was exactly the kind of lifestyle I wanted to live.
What I like about ANR is that there are people nearby who are running the business in the way I want to, it's a comfortable place to work, and the people are nice.
-- It's important to consider the type of people you work with.
It may be completely unrelated, but I believe the things that happen to me happen because they are necessary.
There are some terrible things in life, aren't there?
Even the worst things happen because they are necessary, and I believe that without them, we wouldn't be where we are today.
If I hadn't felt uncomfortable or disliked where I was before, I wouldn't be here.
At the time, I was wondering why this was happening.
But of course, without the experience I had there, I wouldn't be here now.
I might have gone straight ahead to a different place than here.
I believe that the worst and best things that happen to me happen because they are what I need.
Similarly, I think of people as mirrors, every person I meet.
When I'm in front of the worst kind of person and I'm involved with them, I realize that I have that kind of side to me too.
■Meeting with a hairdresser
-- Listening to you talk, I think you have a wonderful way of thinking, but what experiences have led to these ideas?
The biggest influence was a hairdresser that a friend introduced me to when I was in middle school.
She runs a small beauty salon by herself, and she always shares these kinds of thoughts with me.
This beauty salon taught me the idea that if you give happiness, it will come to you, and if you give bad things, the same amount will come back to you; even if you want money, it won't come to you, but if you are willing to give, it will come back to you.
Until I met that hairdresser, I never thought about it and just lived my life as usual.
He tells me stories like this every time he cuts my hair, so I feel good after the treatment as I have absorbed a lot.
I think what I learned at that salon was a big factor.
-- I feel like even though it's small, it has an impact on a lot of people.
All my best friends have that idea and so do I.
They're not just friends, they're best friends.
They say that if you want to know what kind of person someone is, you can get a good idea of what they're like by looking at their five best friends, and when I apply that to my thinking, I think it can really describe me.
My five best friends are people with whom I can share my life, not just on the surface.
I was able to talk about life with my best friend, and it all started at the hair salon.
....
I have had many wonderful encounters that have taught me how I am where I am today, including my guitar teacher, the hairdresser who taught me new ways of thinking, and our CEO, Togashi, among others that I cannot mention here.
Thank you for sharing your story with us, Yusuke!
*1) An illustrated table prepared for the shooting of a video work. It serves as a blueprint for materializing the image of the video.
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