Several years have passed since I wrote, “I still will do my best after this.” I have not done my best. Proof of that is in the fact that I haven’t written a single new story. I’ve been reduced to a NEET[41], living as a parasite on the royalties from this book.
This may be the result of trauma or something like that. Because of it, I developed a strange disease in my brain. Because of this disease, which causes everything to remind me of the trauma, it makes my brain cry out. It makes my brain cry out each time I try to write a story. My brain always is crying out—and because of that, I have become unable to write stories at all. Because of the terrible fear that I faced when I wrote this book, I no longer want to write stories and have become completely unable to write any. Oh, what a terrible tragedy! For a young and talented (at least, he thinks so) writer to have become incapacitated because he wrote this book!
You must read this now. A rare, dark mystique is hidden in this book, which holds the cursed origins I have explained above. It seems that a comedy manga writer long ago went crazy and often would disappear, but there was likely a ghastly force contained within the work that destroyed him, mentally. Because there must be some similar force within this book, it is a book that I confidently can recommend to anyone. It can even help with home and office communication. This book is optimal as a graft onto discussions like, “Hey, do you know the N.H.K.?” and then, someone will say, “The Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai, right? It’s really funny. But it made me cry a little, too.”
It’s embarrassing to mention something that’s selling so well, but no one knows minor works. One could say that a book around this level is indeed the masterpiece that truly could help everyone’s communication. There are jokes about all sorts of current events included, and it’s extremely useful for helping young people think about the present times. It could even be said that if you read this book, you’ll be able to understand the feelings of young people who live in our society today. Older people will be surprised, thinking, “Oh, really? Young people nowadays are like this?!” And those of the same age as the characters in the book will sympathize, thinking, “I understand! I understand! This sort of thing happens all the time!” and can enjoy reading it. At least, I think this book has as much value as its price. I promise that it would take first place in a ranking of “books that you won’t lose anything by reading.”
I feel not even the slightest pang of guilt over giving you the above sales pitch. That’s the honest-to-God truth, although these are days when I can’t hold onto any sort of conviction that God actually exists.
Let’s get back on track. It’s already spring. It’s already warmed up. Birds come to the tree outside my window. In light of that natural cycle, a deep belief that one day, all my daily troubles will be solved boils up inside my chest.
Identity … Love … Existence … Space … God … The time must come, someday, when we will be granted a final answer regarding these great mysteries. With that warm feeling buried in my heart, I keep living. Hoping that this feeling of gratitude will reach all of you who are reading this work, I now close my laptop.
Tatsuhiko Takimoto
April, 2005
A more socially acceptable term for hikikomori that has sprung up in the past few years.