The theme of [Tekkon Kinkreet] is “contemporary change”. What do you think of that in terms of the real world?

今の世の中・・・何でしょう。まぁ、向き合うことがすごく少なくなったかなっていうふうに思うかな。何が好きで、何が嫌いで、ホントに向き合うことが少なくなってきたと思うね。ま、なんか、ちっちゃい頃さ、下町だったっていうのもあるんだけど、全然知らないおじさんに怒られるわけ。「誰だよお前」みたいな奴に。野球とかやっててね。でもね、子供から言わすとね、「野球してる場所がないんだもん、野球やりたいんだけど、あんた達がいっぱい建物建ちあったから。だから、やってるだけなのに、なぜにお前が怒る権利がある？」みたいな、ことを思ったから。やり続けてたけど、俺たちはね。今、そういう雷じいさんみたいないなくなって、ちょっと寂しい気がするかなぁ。

The world today… what could it be? Well, I think confrontation has really decreased. Confronting each other on what we like and what we hate has decreased. When I was little — and it also has something to do with being in the lower city* — I’d get yelled at by old guys I didn’t even know at all, guys who said things like, “Who the hell are you?” while we were playing baseball. But see, if the kids could say something, it’d be like, “We want to play baseball, but there’s no place to play because you guys built all these buildings. So even though we’re just playing, what right do you have to get mad at us?” That’s what we thought. Well, we kept playing anyway. Nowadays, those cranky old men have disappeared, and it feels a little lonely.

T/N: Nino grew up in the shitamachi (下町), the traditional residential, factory, and shopping/entertainment area. Tokyo’s shitamachi is on the eastern side, low-lying as it approaches Tokyo Bay (hence 下町, “below” + “town”, which I’ve translated as “lower city” since it conveys the geographical particularities as well as the old-fashioned, working class nuance that the name retains). Tokyo’s shitamachi contrasts with the western Yamanote area, which is conventionally considered more upper-class and affluent.

(Source: ltgmars)