I wrote the draft of this article using Ichitaro by JustSystems. The computer is a Microsoft Surface Pro.
I really want to write on the large iMac that sits in front of my desk. Beside it, I also have a laptop MacBook. My cell phone is an iPhone. I am truly surrounded by Apple products. To the casual observer, I would appear to be an Apple devotee.
But in the end, it is a surface. It is simply because I cannot use Ichitaro. It seems that there used to be a Ichitaro for Macintosh, but it is not sold now.
I personally think that Ichitaro is the best Japanese word processor (I am not a turner by any means). I have been struggling to find a way to use Ichitaro in a Mac environment.
I have even tried to create a virtual area in my iMac using software called Parallel and installed Windows. However, as I am sure some of you reading this have experienced the same thing, no matter how high the specs of the iMac are, every time Windows is updated, it slows down drastically, sometimes freezing or even freezing, just like a computer from BC. It would slow down rapidly, sometimes freezing and behaving erratically. The stress of it all made me want to throw the mouse at the screen.
Still, since I had bought an iMac, I wanted to use it somehow, so I gave up on Ichitaro once and started looking for Mac-only word processing software from scratch. I started looking for word processing software for Macintosh from scratch: WORD, egword, which Haruki Murakami used, Universal2, itext, Scrivener, Hagoromo, etc. The list is endless. The list is endless.
However, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. In terms of total perfection, Ichitaro was not far behind (I repeat, I am not an expert). What is the fatal difference?
Like in WORD, the page feed is stilted, or it doesn’t display in sequence. In each case, I repeatedly paid money to buy the software and then became frustrated. I spent a lot of money and a lot of time just sorting through this software.
Finally, I gave up writing on the iMac. It was a complete withdrawal.
However, once I chose the Windows environment, the rest was easy. I easily settled on the Surface, which has the best design and is very close to the Macintosh.
So now I am typing on the keyboard of the Surface while looking at the beautiful iMac and MacBook I bought with my eyes to the side. However, sometimes I feel a bit empty.
So why did I fall in love with Apple products in the first place? The first reason was his famous commencement speech at Stanford University.
It was the speech that started it all: “Be hungry. Be a fool. I was particularly moved by his speech, which I will quote at length.
Don’t waste time living a life you don’t mean. Don’t get caught up in dogma. It is the same as living according to other people’s ideas. Don’t let your inner voice be drowned out by the thoughts of others. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Your heart and intuition already know what you really want. Everything else is secondary. This was the part of the speech.
When this speech became famous, it did not particularly resonate with me. But some time later, when I was thinking about quitting novel writing, I happened to hear this phrase again, and it woke me up. I thought, “Ah, I’m going to write novels after all. I wanted to keep doing literature. And I decided to do what I love anyway.
I decided to start a blog, which I used to think was a bad idea, and I got into social networking.
I bought Apple products because when I see beautiful functional and beautiful products such as the iMac, it reminds me of Steve Jobs’ passionate feelings. This kind of combination of a person’s ideology, tools, and aesthetic sense has never been felt before in the world of digital tools. If I was going to go to the trouble of creating something, I wanted to live surrounded by this kind of thing if possible.
In other words, I liked Apple’s products because I felt as if Steve Jobs had taken over. This was the first time I had ever known Sori Yanagi, who turned everyday tools into art.
Of course, there may have been industrial products that have brought aesthetics to the table. But I truly believe that he was the first to create a new world in digital form by going through it so thoroughly.
I think there is a similarity there with Walt Disney, whom I respect. How much can you take the highest world you perceive and put it into reality? He presents a level beyond what most people think is possible.
I think that feeling of challenge is wonderful. People sometimes say that Steve Jobs is a weirdo or a perfectionist, but I personally think that all the flaws can be chalked up to that product.
Even ordinary, overflowing tools in our daily lives can create something that impresses people. He taught me the preciousness of that. Then it means that even the smallest words can change the world if they are filled with feeling.
A long story could change the feelings of many more people. It may be an exaggeration to say that when I use Apple’s products, I always feel as if I am getting a pep talk from him. But I’ve been thinking recently that the design of the Surface is not so bad either.
See you soon.
