статья японского журналиста

“There is something more important than winning,” said late Motoshi Fujita. I never forget the words. He knew all the value of winning best of all the people—the importance of winning, the pleasure of winning, what grows in you nurtured by winning, the world based on winning. [Motoshi Fujita was a baseball player and manager of Yomiuri Giants [NYY of Japan]. If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motoshi_Fujita. AN].

It seems to me that I saw Johnny Weir, a figure skater, overlapping with Fujita. There is some extraordinary time when you feel someone’s “being” or “existence” infinitely precious. Then you transcend all the concerns, such as whether or not you win, get points, impress others. If I try to express that in a simple Japanese saying, with laughter [probably Itoi is aware that he is oversimplifying it. AN], then your soul tells you, “This is fine.”

I imagine that being the best of the world, being a champion, the honor and the reward, etc., could just be a “framework” to fix such time. It may be a little strange to see the very Johnny Weir against Fujita’s words, but for me they live in “the same country.” In “this country,” only my favorite people live.

As for what I talked with Johnny, you are asked to look forward to reading the interview to be on “Hobonichi” soon. Now I will give you an episode from the backstage.

Usually we like to set such an interview, hoping it to look a little too overly gorgeous, in the largest room of our small “Hobonichi,” but this time we did it in an empty space in the middle of the office, where all were working. We may excuse it in various ways, but the decisive reason is that a large room called “Large Hall” was full with things, “actual articles,” the works applied for the second examination of “Hobonichi Grand Prix” [It seems like a craft contest. AN] That’s why I had to say, “Johnny-san, will you go over there?”