The Power of Words | Sakana-kun: Enjoying Something Without Getting Better at It

Imagine being asked about your hobbies and pausing. You enjoy browsing new sweets, and you can spend ages in front of one aquarium tank. But you are not an expert, and you have nothing you have made to show for it. You find yourself beginning with, “Well, I wouldn’t really call it a hobby.”

Today’s quotation

Having a feeling of love for something is, in itself, a wonderful thing.

Sakana-kun — translated from Japanese by this article

Before fish came trucks and yokai

In a 2021 interview with Kodansha’s Cocreco, Sakana-kun said that trucks were his first great interest. He watched vehicles in the street and drew them. Later came Shigeru Mizuki’s yokai characters, then an octopus drawn by a school friend. His curiosity led him to real octopuses and eventually to fish.

This was not a story of choosing a future career and then pursuing fish from the beginning. First came the surprise of an interesting shape, the urge to look closer, and the wish to draw it.

Today’s quotation comes from his response to a question about children who seem unable to find an interest. He widened the conversation to food, pets, sports, and crafts, and mentioned his own love of sweets and musical instruments.

You can like it without being an expert

What follows is this article’s reflection on that idea in everyday life.

Sometimes, when we talk about something we enjoy, we feel obliged to prove our knowledge. If we like films, we should know directors. If we like flowers, we should identify varieties. If we like cooking, we should have a signature dish. We can end up setting ourselves an exam that nobody asked us to take.

But watching the faces of fish in an aquarium has its own pleasure. So does sharing and comparing two kinds of sweets. Not knowing every name does not erase the time we enjoyed.

Learning more can be a delight, too. We simply do not have to turn away a small pleasure before it has had the chance to grow.

One more fish to stop for

The next time someone asks about your hobbies, you may still have no polished answer. Even so, there are things your eyes keep returning to.

After reading Sakana-kun’s story, that small pull feels worth noticing. If a fish makes you stop in front of a tank, perhaps you will want to watch it a little longer.

Source and translation note

Kodansha Cocreco: Interview with Sakana-kun, Part 1, June 7, 2021. Interview and text by Sayuri Hoshino. Original article in Japanese.

English quotation translated from Japanese by this article; a single sentence excerpted from the interview. Sakana-kun did not make this statement in English in the cited source.