July 25, 2002
Sixth Log: Chihiro and Masaaki

Chihiro: Hello, Masaaki.

Masaaki: Hi, Chihiro.
Masaaki: I'm glad you got my mail.

Chihiro: I just read it.
Chihiro: Did anything happen?

Masaaki: No, don't worry.
Masaaki: But yesterday I found out something I really want to talk about.
Masaaki: I hope you don't mind.

Chihiro: What is it?

Masaaki: Actually it's two things.
Masaaki: Well, Monday I started working on my homework, and I do most of my work in the library here.
Masaaki: You should see it, the building is really big, you'd like it.

(Translator note: during Japanese summer vacation some homework is usually assigned.)

Chihiro: I know I said I'd visit you, I will one day.

Masaaki: Don't worry.
Masaaki: Well, I'm not quite sure how to ask this now.
Masaaki: I was looking up old newspapers for my work, and then the "Spirited Away" story popped into my head.
Masaaki: I thought, wouldn't it be funny to find an article about a "magical disappearance" in it?
Masaaki: And I found something in ********, four years ago. Although they didn't describe it that magical, more dramatic.
Masaaki: That was you, wasn't it? Your family?
Masaaki: Everything fits.

(Note: the location will not be made public)

Chihiro: Well yes, I guess you found the tragedy from the past of our family.

Masaaki: I remember something Risa said, about a family tragedy, but…
Masaaki: I really hope you don't mind talking about it.

Chihiro: No, it's ok, now that you've found out.
Chihiro: Actually I'm a little glad.

Masaaki: I really understand if you don't want everyone to know.
Masaaki: I won't tell anyone.

Chihiro: Thanks.
Chihiro: Well, it's not really a secret,
Chihiro: But I don't usually talk about it.

Masaaki: I can imagine that.
Masaaki: I suppose I'm waking up old memories here.
Masaaki: Sure you don't mind?

Chihiro: Yeah, I'm sure.
Chihiro: You're not waking up much, it's been awake all the time.

Masaaki: You talk about it with Risa, I suppose.

Chihiro: Well, we used to, but recently not so much any more.

Masaaki: The other thing I want to ask, well,
Masaaki: Is the movie really based on your tragedy?

Chihiro: Well, yes, it's a bit complicated, but my parents sold the story.
Chihiro: We really needed the money at that time.

Masaaki: They are talking about hallucinations and a trauma…
Masaaki: But I'd like to believe there's really more to it, like in the movie.
Masaaki: I mean it all makes sense:
Masaaki: Your views of the world, your dreams,
Masaaki: I really believe this could be possible.

Chihiro: Then you're different than most people.
Chihiro: Most people I know are thinking:
Chihiro: If they can't experience it themselves, then it doesn't really exist.

Masaaki: I know, we've talked before about Gods and Spirits really existing.

Chihiro: Well, we all take the information we get from the world, from others.
Chihiro: And then we build our own opinions about it.
Chihiro: And if something doesn't fit we either ignore it,
Chihiro: Or say it's a lie.

Masaaki: To most people it wouldn't make a difference whether you made the story up,
Masaaki: Or whether it really happened.
Masaaki: They'd always choose the version that fits into their view of the world.
Masaaki: No matter how often you tell them the other one is true.

Chihiro: To me it makes a difference. What is the truth anyway?
Chihiro: Are we created by the world?
Chihiro: I'd like to believe the other version is also true:
Chihiro: That we also make up the world around us and our mind creates the things that are real.

Masaaki: Does that make sense?
Masaaki: But I'd like to ask a question, if you don't mind me asking.

Chihiro: Go ahead.

Masaaki: How much of your experience went into the movie?
Masaaki: How much of the movie is true?

Chihiro: Most of the movie is what I experienced, except for a some details of course.
Chihiro: They wanted to add a few of their own ideas, too, like the Susuwatari.
Chihiro: But there was much more, that they didn't use at all.

(Note: Susuwatari is the Japanese name of the "Sootballs". They had appeared in earlier movies, too.)

Masaaki: They said you were gone three months?
Masaaki: You missed a whole term…

(Translator note: the school year is divided into three terms, the first one being from April until mid July.)

Chihiro: It was fifth grade.
Chihiro: Yes, and my experience there felt also like three months.
Chihiro: They never say in the movie it's not three weeks, and you can tell by the car in the end that it's been more than a few days.

Masaaki: But the whole building looks different in the end.

Chihiro: We entered the Spirit World somewhere inside the forest,
Chihiro: when we reached the building, it was a building of the bath house complex already.

Masaaki: That's why it seemed new…

Chihiro: Do you remember the inscription over the entrance of the tunnel?
Chihiro: My parents didn't notice it, but I thought it was strange.
Chihiro: It was a sign of the bath house, I think.

Masaaki: Do you think you traveled into another time?

Chihiro: No, there were toys in the playroom that looked quite modern.
Chihiro: They knew about our world, and how it is today.
Chihiro: That's why most of them didn't like humans.

Masaaki: Because people forget about their world?

Chihiro: Maybe, but it's hard to say exactly.
Chihiro: There isn't always a clear reason for everything.

Masaaki: I'm sorry, I'm still very confused.
Masaaki: There's a lot on my mind right now.
Masaaki: It's like I see the whole picture in a jig saw puzzle for the first time.
Masaaki: But there are still a lot of pieces missing.

Chihiro: Even if you'd knew everything I know, there'd still be a lot missing.
Chihiro: There's ALWAYS more.
Chihiro: I haven't talked about it for quite a while,
Chihiro: It feels good actually.

Masaaki: What about your parents?
Masaaki: You can talk to them, they understand you, don't they?

Chihiro: They try to.
Chihiro: But they have no memory of what happened to them.

Masaaki: That they were pigs…

Chihiro: It's better this way, I suppose.

Masaaki: I think I'll never really understand what it means to you.

Chihiro: Yes, I too think nobody will ever come close to understanding.

Masaaki: People might have laughed at your story…

Chihiro: Yes, most of them did, I felt that.
Chihiro: Even if they didn't show it.
Chihiro: Well, they thought the story was great.
Chihiro: But they laughed when I insisted it is true.

Masaaki: I think I would laugh too, if I wouldn't know you.
Masaaki: But everything we ever talked about fits into this picture.
Masaaki: It all makes sense.

Chihiro: I wish it would make sense to me…
Chihiro: I felt for a while now like I should tell you.

Masaaki: It would have sounded strange hearing it from you.
Masaaki: I guess it's good I found this article myself.
Masaaki: I sort of don't understand why wanted them to make a movie of it..

Chihiro: I was ten at the time it happened.
Chihiro: Actually my parents made the decision.
Chihiro: Everyone told us the story I'm telling is like from a movie.
Chihiro: I thought everyone believed me, while they were writing it down.
Chihiro: They probably just thought I had a vivid imagination.

Masaaki: Do you regret it now?

Chihiro: I don't know, not really.
Chihiro: The movie is very good, and it's something really special for me.
Chihiro: That way I can share my experiences without making it look ridiculous.

Masaaki: Oh, yeah.
Masaaki: Even if nobody believes it is real, details will stick in their minds.
Masaaki: It might change their way of thinking, even...

Chihiro: Hopefully.
Chihiro: And maybe one day the world will change a little bit.

Masaaki: You mean, that people accept more than what can be scientifically proven?

Chihiro: Yes,
Chihiro: It is important to forget about logic once in a while.
Chihiro: And that every person is different.
Chihiro: What is visible to one might be invisible to others.

Masaaki: That's why those things can't yet be proven.

Chihiro: And never will.
Chihiro: But they can be accepted.
Chihiro: It's all about acknowledging the other one's beliefs and religion.

Masaaki: I know, you taught me that.
Masaaki: I'm thinking of all the people who had "experiences", that cannot be explained.
Masaaki: They all get laughed at.

Chihiro: I think there's much more than in the daily news.
Chihiro: All around the world there are different beliefs, and who's to say what is the truth?
Chihiro: In a way, science is just a religion, one way of believing.

Masaaki: One way of describing how the universe works.
Masaaki: And not the only one.

Chihiro: And not a perfect one.
Chihiro: I start to think, what if they are all true?

Masaaki: But that's not possible,
Masaaki: Too many contradictions.

Chihiro: I know, I know.
Chihiro: Two facts that contradict each other cannot be true at the same time.
Chihiro: That's what science tells us.

Masaaki: That's what logic tells us.

Chihiro: Yes, but the world isn't only logical.
Chihiro: What, if there really is more than one truth?

Masaaki: You'll never get anyone to believe this.

Chihiro: Yes, I know.
Chihiro: Maybe future generations will see it differently.
Chihiro: Like we developed from a few hundred years ago.

Masaaki: I don't think people will go back believing in Gods and Spirits again.

Chihiro: No, but maybe something different.
Chihiro: Something new, like the power of the mind.
Chihiro: The power of a thought.
Chihiro: People should start believing in themselves.

Masaaki: You should write that down.
Masaaki: Did you ever write anything about your disappearance?
Masaaki: From your point of view?

Chihiro: The movie is my point of view, kind of.
Chihiro: That's what I told them back then.

Masaaki: I didn't quite mean that.
Masaaki: How do you see the it today?
Masaaki: Some years later.

Chihiro: Oh,
Chihiro: That's very difficult to say, because it changes with each season.
Chihiro: It depends on my mood, and I forget, and I learn.
Chihiro: I often started a few lines, but sometimes the next day reading it, it seemed stupid already.

Masaaki: I see.

Chihiro: When did you say you'd be coming here?
Chihiro: I'd like to talk then.

Masaaki: That will be in ten days.
Masaaki: Yes, we should definitely meet then.

Chihiro: Maybe I find something I've written recently.
Chihiro: Or I'd write down something that I can send you.

Masaaki: That would be very nice, I'd like that.
Masaaki: Now I have to concentrate on my homework again.

Chihiro: Oh yeah, enjoy it.

Masaaki: I will.
Masaaki: Hope to talk again soon.

Chihiro: Same here.
Chihiro: And try not to think of it too much, it's different than you think anyway.

Masaaki: I suppose.
Masaaki: Bye then.

Chihiro: Bye.