Why Noboru Takachi has a strong feeling of discomfort with the idea of turning the Child and Family Agency into the Children’s Agency
Even if the word ‘family’ is removed from the Child and Family Agency, the number of happy, problem-free families will not decrease, and the family system will not collapse. There is no need to worry about that. I just want you to save the ‘children’ of families that have already collapsed or are unlikely to function and whose safety cannot be ensured from the cage called ‘family’.
The above tweet, tweeted by actor Noboru Takachi, who is currently working as a freelancer, received a huge response, with 16,000 likes.
However, on February 8, the government submitted the outline of a bill to establish the Child and Family Agency to the Liberal Democratic Party’s Council for the Realization of a Bright Future for Children and Youth. The government is now working to establish the agency in April next year.
Many people may think that there is no difference between the “Children’s Agency” and the “Children and Family Agency” or that the difference in names is not important. However, there are some people who feel a strong sense of rejection to the name “Child and Family Agency”.
What I thought was normal was not really normal at all.
We asked one such person, Noboru Takachi, about the reason for his tweet and his thoughts on the matter.
When I tweeted about the Children and Families Agency on Twitter, I received so many sympathetic messages from people who were troubled at home and didn’t know where to turn for help. It seems that they had been suffering for a long time and happened to find my tweet, couldn’t take it anymore, and summoned up the courage to comment.
That’s what Noboru Takachi says. After he was arrested in June 2016 for possession of methamphetamine and marijuana, he once “seriously thought about dying. He says he is using Twitter to share his own experiences that helped him recover from such hell.
In February 2019, I found a self-help group on Twitter where people with addiction could talk about their experiences, and from there I did a program to reflect on my background.
It was not an easy task, but by getting the words, I came to understand that I was ‘neglected’ as a child, that I had a ‘dysfunctional family,’ and that I was an ‘AC (adult child).
Through self-help groups and Twitter, I came to realize that what I thought was normal was not really normal at all.
One of my friends in the self-help group was Satoru Kazama, a protection officer, writer, and photographer, who is calling for a name change to the Children’s Agency.
One of the members of the self-help group was Ms. Satoru Kazama, a protection officer, writer, and photographer, who called for the name to be changed to “Children’s Agency.
I was invited as a lecturer by a member of the Diet, and we held about 27 study sessions. The name “Children’s Agency” was supposed to have been chosen as an image that would make it easier for children to report their problems, to live comfortably, and to ask for help.
Nevertheless, it was suddenly turned upside down. Since I was a child, I have always been afraid of the name “Children and Family Agency” because I have always been unable to express myself and have always had to hold back.
The mere mention of the word “family” makes me feel fearful and anxious, and I feel that I will not be able to truly receive SOS. I’m not sure what to do.
I thought I was finally accepted by my peers, that I had a place to belong…
Takachi has not had parents since he can remember, and was raised by his uncle and grandmother. Her grandmother explained to her that she was put in a box and floated down the river, and her uncle was quick to discipline her by telling her he would throw her out or ask her to leave.
When I was in the fourth grade, I was told that the aunt who came around sometimes was actually my mother.
At first I was happy that I had a parent, but when I started living with my mother, she would leave money on my desk and disappear for days at a time, or come home drunk and ask me to buy her cigarettes.
In addition, the man my mother introduced to me as my father was a top executive of a chivalrous organization. My mother was his mistress, and my father was not related to her by blood.
My mother was his mistress, and my father was not related to me by blood. These things were well known in my hometown, but I could not tell anyone about it, not even my family. Moreover, my mother committed suicide, and I had no parents at a time when I most needed to be taught the morals and ways of thinking of a human being in the context of natural love and warmth.
In high school, he joined the baseball team and followed the advice of his coach, who espoused the theory of spirit and perseverance, and was able to participate in the Koshien Tournament. The success he experienced led him to a distorted perception that “all that matters is winning and losing” and “all that matters is power.
After I moved to Tokyo, I worked at a host club and started an adult film production company. When I was invited to a disco by a fellow host, I learned about VIPs and thought, ‘In the city, if you have power and money, you can get a special room like this,’ and ‘This is how you get ahead.
I thought to myself, ‘In the city, if you have power and money, you can get a special room like this,’ and ‘This is what it’s like to rise to the top.’ People not much older than me were grabbing a lot of money, driving nice cars, wearing nice clothes, eating good food, getting the woman of their dreams, and having fun at night. I wanted to get close to these people and get something out of them, so I went to visit them, and found that they were using drugs in a fashionable way.
Of course, I knew that drugs were wrong, but in Tokyo, everything seemed fashionable, including the horror of it. Sure enough, the drugs were passed on to me, and I thought that I had finally been accepted by my peers and had found a place in Tokyo.
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Since he grew up in a complicated family environment, “I had no idea what happiness, loving, or being loved was,” so he repeatedly married and divorced.
Whenever he was in a hurry, his “old-fashioned” guts and mentality would come out again.
After his arrest, the media reported things that had no basis in fact, but he had no way to refute them. It was then that he met a self-help group.
At first I was skeptical, listening to everyone’s stories and thinking, “Don’t include me in this! I was skeptical at first, but as I watched and listened to them share even the smallest things, I realized that I wasn’t alone. The more I watched and listened to them, the more it hit me that I wasn’t alone in this.
When I got up the courage to expose what was bothering me inside, I felt relieved and at ease, and I cried all the time as I talked.
From there, she became certified as an “ASK addiction prevention education advisor,” and now gives lectures at addiction awareness and prevention education events. Even so, at the moment, “there is still a 50-50 split between the old and new types. What are the old and new types?
There is no cure in recovery. I’ve been living with a distorted perception of mentalism and gut feelings based on narrow values, and by making friends who can relate to me and share with me, the big lump inside me is finally melting away.
Even so, the old gut feeling and mentality will come out again. But now, another part of me is aware of it, and I laugh at myself and say, “Wait, wait, wait, the old model is coming out. I laugh at myself (laughs). (laughs) With this old type of thinking, I used to get involved in drugs. It’s a pattern of secondary and tertiary problems. When I talk about this in the self-help group, people say, “I have that too,” or “I’ve grown a lot since I realized the old pattern.
In fact, what’s really fun for me now is that I’m discovering my own user’s manual every day. Before, I used to hate myself. But now, I can forgive myself and think that it’s okay to be weak, that people are people and I am me. Above all, if I am not my own SS chief, I don’t think anything can start.
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Lastly, I asked her to give a message to children and young people who are having a hard time with their families.
It’s important not to endure and suffer alone, but to let out an SOS and connect with others. However, I am sure that you are suffering now because your previous connections did not help you.
Even if you talk to someone about it, I’m sure there have been times when they didn’t sympathize with you and just dismissed you with guts and mentalism. SOS But now, with social networking sites, there are no rails to follow unless you can connect with people who have gone through the same feelings and suffering and are working hard to believe in tomorrow.
But now, with social networking sites, you can put your pain, suffering, and pain into words and search for them. It will definitely lead to something. SNS I think there are a lot of things you can do to feel better by using social networking sites to connect with people who understand how you feel, even if just a little, or with organizations that can sympathize with you.
Interview and text by: Wakako Tago
Born in 1973. After working for a publishing company and an advertising production company, she became a freelance writer. In addition to interviewing actors and actresses for weekly and monthly magazines, she writes drama columns for a variety of media. JUMP 9 no Tobira ga Openitoki" (both published by Earl's Publishing).
Photography: Mayumi Abe