Patrick: Okay. What I’m interested in is... There are now new ways of distributing games. It’s not just games in shops anymore – there’s Xbox Live, this year there will be WiiWare... Is Skip interested in this type of distribution?

Fumihiro: We can’t answer.

Kenichi: [in Japanese] He said ‘interested’.

Patrick: Interested, interested.

Fumihiro: I’m interested in Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation 3... I’m interested in WiiWare. Yes, I’m interested.

Kenichi: The download system is very elegant. [He explains further in Japanese.]

Fumihiro: [translating] He doesn’t want to use material.

Kenichi: Our world; this world is short of material.

Miki: He prefers downloading; not selling material objects.

Patrick: Yeah, yeah... because apart from being good business, it’s also an environmental concern.

Kenichi: It’s good for the environment.

Patrick: Is this important to you?

Kenichi: Yes, yes it is. How about you?

Patrick: Oh, I agree. I vote for a Green party. I don’t know if you have one in Japan.

Kenichi: Material business is old business, I think. We can digitalise everything.

Patrick: All of my friends; everyone my age... No-one buys CDs anymore.

Kenichi: They use iTunes.

Patrick: iTunes, free MP3s, and so on. Because, for people my age, we know it’s good for the environment, but our main concern is space. We’re young, we have small apartments, we like to travel – so having a shelf full of CDs and videogames is really inconvenient. I want everything on my laptop; I think that’s the direction we’re going in.

Kenichi: I think it’s the right direction to the future.

Patrick: I’m interested in your philosophies. You said the environment is important to you. I noticed many of your games have the theme of helping; helping other people. Is this important for you?

Kenichi: Not for me. For everyone.

Patrick: So it’s your message.

Kenichi: I think so. I think it’s a very simple and very basic point. It’s for everyone; it’s for every country; it’s for every generation; it’s for men and women. I think it’s the most important thing, in life.

Patrick: I think so, because I think that if everyone’s priority is looking after other people, helping other people... all the problems will be solved. I think all the world’s problems are connected to this first problem: Do you help people, or do you not help people?

Kenichi: I think so. But... [explains to Miki in Japanese]

Miki: Not only to help people – to help animals, to help... everything. Not just people.

Patrick: You’re an animal lover?

Kenichi: I’m an animal lover. I have a middle-sized dog.

Patrick: I saw him on your blog.

Kenichi: His name is Tao. He has a black and white face – a black side and a white side. He looks like the Yin-Yang, from Taoism. So his name is Tao.

[Note: You may have realised that Kenichi puts Tao into his games, including Giftpia and Chibi-Robo.]

Patrick: Is Taoism your philosophy, or similar to it?

Kenichi: It’s similar. It’s one of many influences.

Patrick: This is not a videogame question. In Japan, compared to what I’m used to... and it’s not everybody, but many, many people don’t look after animals properly. There are big dogs living in tiny spaces. There are many stray cats, because people abandon them. Is this a problem you think about?

Kenichi: How about Australia? Is it not like Japan?

Patrick: We have problems, like every country, but the standard of animal care is higher. There’s more education about neutering pets, so there are fewer stray animals. Our zoos have very high standards... I go to pet shops and zoos in Japan, and it’s just animals in boxes, and they’re so unhappy. I was really shocked. In Japan, I don’t think there’s an organisation like the RSPCA...

Miki: No, there’s not, in Japan.

Patrick: And we have laws about looking after animals...

Kenichi: But, we have laws about looking after animals in Japan too.

[The following exchange is in Japanese; translated roughly.]

Miki: Really?

Kenichi: The [such-and-such] law.

Fumihiro: But that law is so weak.

Kenichi: Hmmm... I wonder how harsh the penalty is... But anyway...

[And back to English.]

Kenichi: When I went to America, England, Australia... Those are happy places for animals, I think. But Asian countries don’t have a philosophy for taking care of animals, because, you know... dogs are for barking at burglars. There is no culture about dogs having a relationship with humans, in Japan.

Patrick: I think in the West, a long time ago, it was the same attitude.

Kenichi: I know, I know.

Patrick: But some people decided, “Animals have a difficult life. We will talk on behalf of the animals.” And they educated people. And slowly, slowly...

Kenichi: It got better and better...

Patrick: But it’s very slow change.

Miki: In Japan too, slowly, slowly, we are changing.

Patrick: I think so. I hope so.

Miki: Because, there are more and more animal schools now, to train dogs and cats and animals.

Patrick: I’ve noticed small dogs are becoming more popular in Japan, which is good, because no-one has a big backyard for a big dog.

Kenichi: It’s a good size for our country.

Patrick: So, yeah – slowly, slowly.

Kenichi: I have a good animal story. Do you know Harrods department store in England?

Patrick: Yes. Actually, sorry, can I stop you there? We need to change the tape.

Kenichi: Okay.

* * *

What a cliffhanger! Keep watching Eegra for the second, even more interesting half of this interview, and Kenichi’s astonishing, Harrods-related animal story!

Thanks to Rebecca Clements for her assistance with translation.

I’ll leave you with this short video, that I put together to give you an impression of what the interview was like ‘in person’. I do these things for you because I love you.