In this video, Nick Kemp dives deep into the fascinating concept of embracing your inner child, especially in the context of creativity and learning. Nick reflects on how every new piece of knowledge can change you, making you a new person with the ability to express yourself in fresh, creative ways.
Express yourself and be creative
Nick: I've actually had a conversation on this, that every time you read something or learn something, you are a new person, or you change. It's fascinating. It reminded me actually of these aspects in your book.
Now we're sort of moving on to creativity, which I think we can strongly relate to learning -- you learn something. I think it gives you this new ability to express yourself and be creative. And you highlight that the key to nagomi creativity is acceptance of youth and immaturity as a positive value.
And I think this might surprise some listeners, because I think when people think about Japanese, they perceive Japanese as being very ingenious and creative, but perhaps in a more serious, diligent light, for example, shokunin. This idea of youth and immaturity as a positive value is really interesting.
Ken: For example, Hayao Miyazaki, he's deeply a childish person. When I say childish, I'm not saying that in an accusing manner. I mean, he's wonderfully childish, Hayao Miyazaki. Otherwise, he can't keep creating anime like My Neighbor Totoro, all his works are really wonderful.
He doesn't forget what it felt like when he was a kid. His inner child is very much alive. And I think he's still a five year old at heart. Do you have a five year old in you, Nick?
Nick: Absolutely, yeah, I really love this idea of embracing your inner child. I'm often like a five year old, when I learned a new word. I almost run to my wife and go, wow, I've learned batakusai, like I didn't know.
And I'll have this desire to tell her like, I've learned a new word, almost like a child or this idea to create something and share it with others. It is something we did as children, we wanted to share our creativity. I think it's a beautiful thing to embrace this inner child.
And it's something that should be promoted, and often it's not. It's like, well, we need to get serious, we need to work, we need to solve all these problems. It's often our creativity and our childlike nature that solves problems, perhaps in a nagomi way. In a far more harmonious, inclusive way.