For a long time, I have been involved in designing various products. And now, I mostly work on the design management, a kind of design for designing products, and it’s certainly an interesting job. That said, when I keep myself focused on setting a course to a defined destination, I sometimes feel the urge to use my hands to draw some concrete pictures on paper as I did before. The illustration below is the one I drew when I was in such a restless mood. As I tend to have obsession to put my ideas into concrete forms, I occasionally do things like this to prevent myself from slipping into a state of spiritual constipation. Drawing pictures without specific purposes while flirting with the idea of producing something hilarious gives me a blissful moment.

There is a saying “Bonnou-soku-bodai” in Buddhism, which means enlightenment (bodai) can be attained starting from earthly desires (bonnou) and that enlightenment can’t exist without earthly desires. In other words, enlightenment is directly linked to earthly desires and vice versa. I usually work on setting a path to intended destinations while enjoying in my private time the act of wandering aimlessly around various areas of concern. Then I sometimes feel these two different aspects of my present life are actually the same thing. This brings me to coin a word “Mei-soku-ze-dou,” which means wandering around leads to making a path forward or setting a path forward brings a joy of wandering. Stretching my imagination like this, I’m trying to find a bit of pleasure in my daily work.

Takuji Watanabe
CMFG Design Dept.
Executive Officer