On March 2nd, GACKT (50) made a surprise appearance at the graduation ceremony of Saku Chosei Private High School in Saku City, Nagano Prefecture, where there was still snow.
At the end of the graduation ceremony, the principal said to the 337 third-year students, “We have prepared a surprise for you at the end.” The door at the back of the venue opened and GACKT and artist K (40) appeared.
At the ceremony, which was filled with excitement, GACKT finished powerfully singing “Like a Flower Blooming in the Field” with K’s piano and chorus, and spoke powerfully to the students.
[Dreams are not something you see, dreams are something you make come true. And to make your dreams come true means never giving up and persevering with your strong will to the end. I look forward to your future. Congratulations on your graduation】
This is the 15th time he has held the “Graduation Ceremony Live” which he started in 2006. It had become my “life’s work” but it was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, he had no choice but to give up his activities due to a hiatus, but he made a comeback last year.
What is the reason why GACKT continues to hold “graduation ceremony live shows”? The answer is written in his autobiography, “Confessions II” which is currently on sale. Some parts will be edited and published specially.
《Since 2006, we have been performing [Graduation Ceremony Live] all over the country. With the idea that “if I can give even the slightest push to students who are about to start pursuing their dreams”, every March, I make a surprise appearance at junior high school and high school graduation ceremonies to celebrate their beginnings.
A few years after the graduation event, I had several chance encounters with graduates of that school. When I attend a gathering of a newly launched company, I’m always happy when someone says, “GACKT came to my high school graduation ceremony, so I decided to do my best and worked hard to get here!” We once met at a radio station. The company president was a guest on the radio program, and he said, “Actually, I was a student at that time.That gave me courage!” The reasons why I pushed them back may have been small, but they are moving forward and producing results. You can reaffirm that it has meaning. That makes me really happy. I think they did their best.
I’m doing [Graduation Ceremony Live] because I want to do it. After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, one way of thinking changed. I was severely criticized by some gossip magazines for volunteering. In the end, he was even accused of stealing the collected money. The following year, Marsa joined the agency I belonged to at the time. Although her contract with me had already expired at that time, the headlines in newspapers and weekly magazines at the time read [GACKT tax evasion]. Of course, tax evasion has nothing to do with me. However, as part of the company’s investigation, my home was also searched. He also cooperated by saying, “If you want to investigate, I don’t mind if you investigate everything. If you have the necessary documents, I will provide all of them.” However, he said, “It bothers me that some gossip magazines in the world write about [GACKT tax evasion].” I said, “I want to write about the current situation on my blog,” but they told me not to do so because it would obstruct the investigation.
In fact, because of this incident, all talk of appearing in Hollywood movies and commercials, which had already been decided at that time, went away. I really wanted you to give me a break. Moreover, it is not the [current office] but the [former office]. However, gossip magazines were amused and wrote about [GACKT tax evasion]. [I embezzled the money I collected from volunteering! ]. However, since I haven’t even touched the cash in the first place, I have no way to embezzle it. We never touched the money we collected, and another telecommunications company took over the temporary custody of it. However, this time, the money was funneled to a suspicious Korean company! ]. That company is LINE. LINE is a company that most Japanese people use. There’s no point in bashing him.
At that time, one of my friends told me this. “The idle people of this world complain about the way other people sweat.They don’t do anything themselves, but they just complain about other people’s actions and the way they sweat.” “I see…” I understood, but I wasn’t able to wipe away everything that had happened with those words alone.
■Goodwill means not only the moment, but also the risks that will occur afterwards.
“Even after that, I regularly visited the disaster-affected areas to see what was going on. I met up with one of my friends from Niigata, who regularly goes to the disaster area and works with me on fundraising and support activities. He also continued to work in the disaster-stricken areas whenever he could find time. I spoke to him and said, “We personally spent a lot of money and delivered a large amount of supplies to the disaster area.But after being criticized so much, why are we still able to continue doing volunteer work?”
He calls me his brother. That’s what he answered. “Nii-san, I’m doing this because I want to do it. I’m not doing it because I want someone to praise me. I think it’s cool that I’m doing this.” When someone told him, “Sometimes I get complaints that I don’t understand from people who just talk and don’t do anything, I think it’s cool that I’m doing this.” When he was told, he used a big hammer. I felt a shock as if I had been punched. “That’s right, I did it because I wanted to…” There are people who can praise themselves for their actions, and there are people who have been saved by that. “I did it because I wanted to, and that’s enough. No other words are necessary.’
From then on, I always had one word to say about what I did. The media wants to tell beautiful stories. We want you to talk passionately about it. However, I no longer tell the media’s favorite “tear-jerking stories” like “I want to help someone.” I understand that clean things are needed in the world, but I never passionately talked about those reasons, and he started saying, “I’m doing it out of my own ego” and “I’m doing it because I want to.” There are many reasons for the graduation live performance, but now I simply say to the world, “I’m doing it because I want to do it” and “I’m doing it because of my ego.”
In 2011, he formed a band called YFC [YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz] and was on a world tour. He once talked with members about volunteer work at a cafe in France. The members naturally knew that I had been criticized a lot by gossip magazines. I asked about that. “Isn’t that painful? Isn’t it exhausting? Isn’t it frustrating and painful?”
I had already completely resolved those conflicts within myself. On the contrary, he asked them questions. “What would you do if you were driving a car and there was a middle-aged woman in front of you who couldn’t change lanes?” All of them answered, “I’ll slow down and let you in.” When I asked him why, he said, “I have good intentions” and “I feel sorry for him.” I continued talking. “However, if you let someone in front of you who can’t even change lanes, there is a possibility that an accident may occur later on. Right after you let her in front of you, she slams on the brakes, causing you to crash into her car. If someone were to yell at you and say, “Hey, where are you looking when you’re driving!”, would you regret letting that person in front of you?”
Everyone started thinking, “Hmm.” “Goodwill is not just about the moment, but also about the risks that will occur afterwards. Goodwill is only established when you accept that risk. That’s what volunteering is all about. There are times when people who don’t care about anything say things to me, and there are many times when they don’t understand me.They don’t make any moves at all, and it’s clearly only people who are someone else’s business who are sweating other people’s work. If you’re going to get angry at people like this, you should stop being so nice.” Everyone kept their mouths shut.
[Goodwill] is a very difficult word. If you’re doing it with good intentions, you have to accept all the risks. Of course, I am not denying good intentions. We must recognize that with the development of social networking sites, we have entered a world where even the best of intentions are tainted by many people who don’t show their faces. We live in such a world. That’s why I answer, “I’m doing it because I want to do it. I’m doing it out of my ego.”
The 15th “Graduation Ceremony Live” was based on his firm belief.
Source: smart-flash.jp
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA