attended junji ito’s artist talk today and his literal advice to all artists/cartoonists can be summed up with “go to fucking sleep”
If this is true, then the cultural context of this is especially important. Death By Overwork is so much a thing in Japan - especially in the creative media industry, including video games, manga and film - they have their own word for it (Karōshi).
Illnesses that could have been caught and treated earlier, if not for the expectation of constant overwork and the culture of shame over taking any time off for any reason, have claimed the lives of geniuses like Satoshi Kon and Satoru Iwata. And they will continue to take people’s lives, and rob the world of everything they could have gone on to create, as long as they’re not allowed time to take care of themselves.
We will never see another Nintendo game with Iwata’s name on it. Satoshi Kon’s ‘Dreaming Machine’ will be unfinished forever, and will probably never see the light of day. Countless creators are working themselves into an early grave, and all it does is ensure their life’s work will be cut short.
So listen to horror dad, fuck “crunch culture”, and take a fucking nap.
(via theladyem)
