We talk to people and try to explain that we don't do crafts.

We don't want to see something that you did 30 years ago. We want to see something current, and to watch your work improve.

We've had 26 or 27 members at times.

Obviously there's tapes of that, and I'm sure they're very entertaining. History is wonderful and it's there, if people have the time and want to engage in that. I certainly think the analytical view I bring to express on whatever topic is the kind of view that hopefully will produce some good analysis for the good of the council.

These writers are tapping into a frustration that is almost universal among young people in Japan. Japan's economic bubble has burst and for many young people, a period of great promise seems to be over. They're left with no sense of direction, no sense of what really matters in life.

I've seen contention before. I'm trying to work to come up with ways to bring people together and move past that particular moment in time.