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Yu Nagaba

Talking about music, movies and the future

真實接觸過長場雄後,會發現他本人的話不多,只喜歡安靜地坐在一隅,偶爾才跟著大夥傻笑起來;這有點像他的畫,往往只有簡約的點線交錯,不愛囉哩八唆,卻可以讓你在畫面中感受著這個人的誠懇,使你會心一笑。

從最早在《POPEYE》接案子開始,作品陸續出現在《Casa BRUTUS》、《WIRED》和《GINZA》等雜誌,後來連時尚品牌如Beams、Rayban也搶著要跟他合作。剛過去的六月,長場雄還跨界餐飲業,在香港元気寿司灣仔店帶來其插畫主題快閃店,店裡頭每個角落都佈滿長場雄的畫作,就連迴轉壽司的輸送帶上也放置一整排小幅插畫。看見此情此景,他傻笑著道:「這真是第一次自己『擁有』自己的店,令我相當興奮。」

Once you get to interact with Yu Nagaba in person, you will find that he is not a talkative person. He merely likes to sit quietly at a corner, laughing along with the group only from time to time. This is somewhat like his drawings, which are formed by simple intersecting dots and lines. He does not love to dwell too much upon small detail, but still from his images you can feel his sincerity and they can bring a smile of understanding to your face.

He started out undertaking jobs from POPEYE, and then, his pieces began to appear subsequently in magazines such as Casa BRUTUS, WIRED and GINZA. Later on, even such fashion brands as Beams and Rayban have all vied for collaborating with him. In just last month, in June, he even crossed to the field of food and catering by launching his pop-up store featuring his illustrations at the Wanchai branch of Genki Sushi in Hong Kong. You can find Yu Nagaba’s illustrations decorating every corner of the restaurant and even on the sushi conveyor belt you can find a row of his small-sized illustrations. On seeing all these, he laughed and said, “This is the very first time that I have my ‘own’ store. This has made me very excited.”

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以前讀過一篇長場雄的媒體訪問,文中他說不希望賦予作品世界觀,避免過多繁瑣的語言。然而回過頭來,從他作品的人物選材中,往往會出現John Lennon、Yoko Ono、Kurt Cobain、Ramones等名人物,從中好像能發現他喜歡哪些音樂、電影,以及美式流行文化對他的洗禮。

John Lennon和Yoko Ono這個組合,儼然是六十年代嬉皮、反戰文化的象徵。在2015年日本解禁自衛權後,長場雄為表達抗議,立即依照二人著名的反戰照片繪製作品反擊。然而Kurt Cobain卻跟前者屬性不太一樣,其所屬樂團Nirvana發跡於九十年代,也是說,他是與長場雄同代成長的標誌性音樂人。

I have read a media interview of Yu Nagaba before. In the interview, he mentioned that he did not want to bring a worldview to his work to avoid an excess of complicated language. However, looking back, from the famous individuals featured in his works such as John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Kurt Cobain and Ramones, you can seemingly discover his preferences for music and movies, and the influence of American popular culture on him.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono are symbols of the hippies and anti-war culture in the 60s. In 2015, after the Japanese government eased the restrictions of its Self- Defence Forces, Yu Nagaba immediately drew pieces based on the anti-war photos of the two figures as a form a protest. Kurt Cobain, on the other hand, is an individual of a different nature. Nirvana, the band to which he belonged, rose to fame in the 1990s. In other words, he is a symbolic musician from Yu Nagaba’s generation.

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「Kurt Cobain是我少年時的偶像,一個很有代表性的人物,John Lennon雖然是較久遠的人物,不過也是一樣的帥氣。」成長於九十年代的他回憶道,當年有一個電視音樂節目,主要放日本及西洋的主流音樂,某天他收看節目時突然聽見一首很不尋常的曲目,並深深被音樂打動。「之前節目上聽到的都是一般旋律優美的音樂,但那首單曲很不一樣,感覺有點粗糙,有令人甩頭的衝動,留下了非常深刻的印象。雖然沒有明確的理由,但我可是一頭栽了進去。」他口中說的曲目,想當然就是Nirvana的《Smells Like Teen Spirit》。

每個喜歡搖滾樂的少年,大概都曾對著鏡子彈空氣吉他,幻想過自己可以組團表演,長場雄應該也不例外吧?「有的,不過最終沒有成真。」說著時表情靦腆,把整場人都逗笑了。

“Kurt Cobain is my childhood idol, and he is a very representative figure. Even though John Lennon is from an era further back in history, he is equally cool,” he said, reminiscing about growing up in the 90s. Back then, there was a music programme on television playing mainstream Japanese and Western music. One day, when he was watching the programme, he found himself listening to an unusual song, which moved him deeply.  “Until that point, the songs I had listened to on the programme were all regular music with a beautiful melody, but that song was very different, with a bit of a rough feeling, giving you an impulse to shake your head. The song has left a very deep impression on me. Even though I didn’t have a clear reason, I became hooked completely .” The song he was referring to was Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Every young man who likes rock music has probably played an air guitar before, facing the mirror, fantasizing himself being able to form a band and perform. Yu Nagaba should be no exception? “I did, but it has not come true,” he said, with a shy expression that made everybody present laugh.

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長場雄說他在學校是田徑隊隊員,雖然最終沒當成搖滾樂手,不過從學生時就沉迷在美國文化,音樂和電影都喜歡。我問他近年喜歡哪部電影時,他回說是2009年Tom Ford導演的《Single Man》,說是被電影中黑暗、優美的氛圍吸引過去。「如果以類型片來說,其實我頗喜歡談愛情、友情的青春片,最近喜歡的是《Everybody Wants Some!!》,蠻好看的一部片。」

2015年,長場雄與鍵和田啟介合著《經典映畫100選》(みんなの映画100選),在繪本內畫上一百幅經典的電影場口,是近年來日本備受討論的繪本。對長期接受美國電影文化的長場雄來說,繪畫電影場口應該是手到拿來才對,想不到有些場口還是考倒了他,令他不得不放棄。

「我原本是很想畫《Rocky》或者是《Rambo》裡擔綱演出的席維斯·史特龍,不過因為他的臉非常難畫,所以還是放棄了(是因為他經常板著臉目無表情嗎?)對對對!最後只好修正為《Rocky》裡洛基的對手,Carl Weathers飾演的阿波羅。」

至於在《經典映畫100選》中最喜歡的場口,長場雄則說是繪本封面上的《Leon》。

Yu Nagaba mentioned that he was a member of the track and field team at school, and even though he did not become a rock musician in the end, back when he was a student, he was already addicted to the American culture, loving both its music and movies. When I asked him which movie he liked in recent years, he said he liked Single Man directed by Tom Ford, being drawn by its dark and beautiful mood. “In terms of genres, I like coming-of-age movies about love and friendship, and my favorite one of late is Everybody Wants Some!! Quite a great movie.”

In 2005, Yu Nagaba collaborated with Keisuke Kagiwada in publishing a book titled Minna no Eiga 100 sen (Movies for Everyone: 100 Selection), which contains his illustrations of 100 classic movie scenes. It is an illustrated book much discussed within Japan in the past few years. Given Yu Nagaba has long been exposed to American movie culture, drawing illustrations of movie scenes should be second nature to him. Nonetheless, quite unexpectedly, there were still some scenes which defeated him, and he had no choice but to give up.  

“Originally I wanted very much to draw Sylvester Stallone, who played the main character in Rocky or Rambo, but I gave up eventually because I found his face extremely difficult to draw. (Is it because he often puts on a poker face without any facial expressions?) Exactly! In the end, I could only switch to Apollo, Rocky’s opponent played by Carl Weathers.”

As for his top favorite scene from the book, Yu Nagaba said it was a scene from Leon featured on its cover.

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訪問途中,攝影師想捕捉他繪畫時的神態,便請他即席為我們畫上一幅。我們換到包廂的位置後,他隨手拎起麥克筆,徐徐在新聞稿的空白處上作畫,不消幾筆,就畫好一隻史諾比。

「我的作品都是用手畫的,而平常除了用電腦掃描作品、用電郵寄出作品外,基本上都不太用電腦。」長場雄回想互聯網冒起的時候,因為他對新東西都感興趣,那陣子的確有在使用電腦,不過他覺得現在網路上太多真偽難分的資訊,才逐漸遠離。「我不確定原因,不過數位吸收資訊的方式,很難幫我把資訊給保留下來,反而是書本上得到的資訊比較容易。」

只是,不要以為長場雄就是個拒絕科技的人。在長場雄喜歡的雜誌裡頭,除了《POPEYE》外,接著就是專注於科技趨勢的《WIRED》。「我本身從事的工作與科技無關,只想從中吸收新知,未來世界到底是什麼模樣⋯⋯我對未知的事物都感興趣,那可以是歷史、可以是科學,可以是任何未知的事物。」

At one point during the interview, our cameraman wanted to capture his expression while he was drawing so invited him to draw us something on the spot. After we moved to a private space, he just grabbed a random marker pen and began slowly to draw in the white space on a press release. He managed to draw a Snoopy in just a few strokes.

“My works are all hand-drawn. Normally I seldom use the computer except when I need to scan or email my work.” Yu Nagaba recalled that he did use the computer when the Internet first came into being because of his interest in everything new. However, he felt that nowadays the online world is overflowing with information with questionable authenticity, and only then, did he decide to distance himself from it.“I’m not sure why but I find it very difficult to retain the information I absorb through the digital world. Quite the contrary, I find it easier to acquire information from books.”

Nevertheless, do not jump to the conclusion that Yo Nagaba is a person who rejects technology. Apart from POPEYE, among his favorite magazines is WIRED, which mainly covers technological trends. “My work has nothing to do with technology. All I want is to soak up new information, and to get an idea about what the future will be like… I have an interest in the unknown, and it can be history, science, or anything yet to be known.”

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去年十月,《WIRED》第22號以人工智能為主題,預告三十年後人工智能將全面進佔人類社會。與大部分人的憂慮態度不同,長場雄可算是樂見其成,他認為人工智能或許能減輕勞動時間,人類將有更多餘裕去進行各種創作活動,例如寫小說,作曲和畫畫。我好奇問他,難道不怕插畫師會被人工智能取代嗎?他的答案倒是樂觀得很。

「我會視這個作挑戰,欣然地接受,視其為驅動力,去戰勝人工智能!」他不無認真地笑著道。

長場雄對未來抱有憧憬,他甚至認為未來世界的人類,會比我們當代人要過得幸福。而我只好奇,明明近年國際新聞版面上都是鋪天蓋地的壞消息,世界各處好像都彌漫著消極、失落的情緒,為什麼仍能對未來充滿信心?

「我偏向於控制每天的資訊量,因為太著眼的話會很容易失落,令你覺得人生不怎麼重要。」長場雄接著道「對我來說每天都是一個目標,都必須要去達成,那或許只是小小的一步,但是要有信念、要做自己認為是正確的事情。那是我面對未來的方法,也是能對未來抱有希望的方法。」

The 22nd issue of WIRED from last October, which features the topic of Artificial Intelligence, predicted that thirty years later AI will make full inroads to every part of human society. Rather than viewing it as a cause for concern as most people do, Yu is more or less happy to see it come true. He believes that AI can possibly reduce working hours so that human beings will have more free time to engage in a variety of creative activities such as writing novels or songs, and drawing. Out of curiosity, I asked if he was afraid that AI would make his job as an illustrator obsolete? His answer was very optimistic.

“I would see this as a challenge, which I will happily accept, and as a source of motivation for me to win this battle against AI!” said Yu Nagaba half-heartedly, with a laugh.

Yu Nagaba entertains fond thoughts of the future. He even believes that human beings in the future will live more happily than those living in this era. However, I was curious to know, given the apparent abundance of bad news from all over the world in recent years, and the mood of pessimism and loss seemingly permeating every corner of the world, why could he be so confident about the future still?

“I prefer to control the amount of information I receive daily. It is because if you pay too much attention, you will easily get upset, and subsequently get the feeling that life itself is not a big deal.” Then he went on, “For me, each day presents a goal to be achieved. It might only be a tiny step, but you need to have faith, and you need to do what you consider right. This is how I face the future, and how I manage to entertain hopes for the future.”

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