Right now, there is a woman in front of me who says, "I want to be a musician."
Her name is Kazuminana.
I'm 21 years old and work hard as a staff member at Bokumo, working in the dining area.
Today, too, I worked hard washing glasses until the last train.
I've never wanted to be a musician, but I understand the feelings of people who want to be musicians.
I love music, so I want to make a living doing only music all day long. And I want the things I create to be recognized by the world.
I want to do what I love and be fulfilled both physically and emotionally.
I think if I was good at singing, could play an instrument, and could write lyrics and compose music, I would have thought the same way.
However, on the other hand, I often hear that it's better to separate hobbies and work.
I turned my hobby into a job, but what I love to do doesn't match what society needs, so I'm not making much money.
So when you create a work that meets the needs of society, you start to wonder if this is really what you wanted to do.
There was a time when I worked in the music industry, and I saw quite a few people like that who were torn between dreams and reality.
We made music based on the direction that adults had worked out in a conference room, but in the end, we wondered whose passion was behind the piece.
I really felt that making and selling music is difficult.
In particular, "selling" may seem like a simple matter of spreading the good things that an individual has created to the world, but in reality this is not the case.
There is an industry system in place, and the circumstances of the people who make up that system are all intricately intertwined.
"Direct from the source" sounds appealing, but in reality, it's because of the various work done by distributors that delicious food reaches so many people's mouths.
In any case, "spreading" something means that it will involve the thoughts of many different people, for better or worse.
It's quite difficult to deliver music directly to a large number of users. But if you can overcome that difficulty, I think the passion of the person who created the music will resonate strongly with the recipients.
Restaurants like ours are a bit similar in some ways.
When I started Bokumo 13 years ago, I didn't open the store based on a public need or thinking, "I wonder if this will become popular."
My chef and I worked together and thought it would be fun to have a space like this, so we created Bokumo.
Indeed, it all started with the mindset of "I want to do what I love and feel fulfilled."
However, of course, the world isn't that easy.
At first, we had no customers at all.
I can't count the number of times I've introduced a new menu item that I thought would be great, only to have it received a lukewarm response.
I panicked, thinking, "Oh no, we're getting so few customers, what should we do?", so I paid a lot of money to a major media outlet to try to attract more customers, but it was completely ineffective and made the situation even worse.
I was so naive back then. I would never do it now.
However, as I continued doing this, I gradually began to realize that this would be recognized, and now I feel like I'm doing just fine.
The same goes for Bokumo Wine, which I started last year.
This way is good for them, but this way is not so good. So what should I do next? I keep repeating the same thing.
Every day, many customers tell me, "Use your head to fit in better with the world," and I realize that I've come this far thanks to them.
Thankfully, in my case, I'm the type of person who doesn't think, "I'm doing this to meet public needs, but is this really what I wanted to do?"
On the contrary, I enjoy finding a way to fit in. If there's a way to make it okay for me, my biased personality, to exist in society, I'd love to find it.
However, while I think that, I still think it's better for artistic genres to have an aesthetic that doesn't fit into them.
Kazumi Na-chan is aspiring to become a professional singer-songwriter, but her music doesn't feel like it's something she sings for an audience; it feels like she's singing it as a way of expressing herself.
I think it would be quite a high hurdle to stick to that and pursue music as a career.
However, she has had a strong desire to become a musician since she was a child. From the moment we met, I sensed she had the potential to make her dream come true.
Recently, the number of fans has been increasing little by little.
I think it has the power to make you think, "I have to share that girl's passion with someone else."
I just recently finished my third self-produced album, so please give it a listen if you're interested.
It's super direct from the source.
Thank you for your hard work today, Nana-chan. I wonder if you'll write another song when you get home. I'll wash the remaining glasses!
