words #2 'Like Track 7 on an Album'

Like Track 7 on an Album

Even though it was raining,
I saw a penguin standing still, looking up at the sky.
And I thought, “Maybe that penguin is me.”

Like a penguin, I can’t fly — I just walk, swim, and keep moving forward.
All the while longing for flight.
There’s a part of me that dreams of flying,
and another part that knows it’s difficult and must keep walking instead.
I felt that’s a feeling many people, in many situations, could relate to.
I wanted to paint a scene where such “penguin-like people” could simply stay as they are — penguins.

Then, out of the blue, came this opportunity to work with Converse.
I wondered what to do.
It’s one of those brands that gave me the sensitivity to appreciate standard things just as they are.
Of course, I’d make use of what I’m good at —
but I wanted there to be some little emotional hook inside me, too.

I remembered a line from a manga I once read — I think it was Boys Over Flowers:
“Good shoes will take you to good places.”

In the end, maybe I still can’t fly,
but perhaps the bird motifs drawn on the shoes
can take you somewhere wonderful instead.
It’s not meant to be a grand theme, or something to declare aloud,
just a quiet thought — one that might rest subtly in the spaces between the designs.
That’s what I secretly wished for, alone to myself.

It’s modest, but maybe like a track that ranks surprisingly high in a fan vote.
Personally speaking, anyway.
So please — wear them on your everyday walks,
or while having a drink, gazing at the moon,
and let them take you somewhere beautiful.
That’s the kind of shoes they are.