birthday

"birthday" began with an awareness of the rising suicide rate in Japan (especially the rising suicide rate among children), and depicts "one individual's struggle" with the theme of "loneliness".
First of all, I do not want to debate the pros and cons of choosing suicide. I neither deny nor confirm suicide.
"birthday" is a work that examines the deep loneliness of the heroine, Yasuko. I myself, like Yasuko, suffer from loneliness and struggle to survive, and when I created this work, I felt like I was entrusting to Yasuko the feelings of living a tightrope-like life and my loneliness and anxiety.

Yasuko receives a five-day vacation from her company and tries to enjoy it to the fullest, but she gradually begins to struggle with her own anxiety and loneliness, and ends up spending the five days battling it out. And here, Yasuko's loneliness and anxiety are never known to the outside world, and she is unable to ask for help, and ends up just screaming endlessly with a silent voice in the darkness of her heart.

In the society I live in (Japanese society), so-called individualism is accelerating, the idea of ​​family and local communities are collapsing, and it is difficult to build deep human relationships.
Certainly, it may be possible to "connect" with people through the internet and smartphones. However, I think it is rare for people to connect in a true sense.

Japan's domestic economy is in decline, political distrust shows no signs of stopping, disparities are widening in every aspect, and the social situation is such that people continue to be divided (despite being praised for their diversity, they are actually deviating from it). For example, how does Yasuko define her own existence? Is it possible to tell Yasuko to live in this situation? Should I say it? At least, I have no intention of telling Yasuko in this work to live. I want to be next to Yasuko, who is alive there. Although I can't do anything. All I want to do is watch over them. I don't know that It's correct.

I don't never know war, I don't never know the chaos that followed World War II, I have never been on the verge of starvation. The Japanese economic bubble burst when I was young, and I grew up in a "lost" era, sometimes feeling despair, having dreams, and living my days like walking an unstable tightrope. What is my current loneliness and anxiety? What is Yasuko's loneliness and anxiety? Even if I keep asking myself questions, I can't find any answers, but I am thinking of living with loneliness and anxiety by asking myself questions over and over again. I have a feeling that Yasuko is still living the like me somewhere.