I've always said that growing up in postwar Japan, I never felt any connection to my work through those experiences. The work I do really comes from inside myself. For me, being born in Japan was an accident.

Because the fundamental human problem is that people are afraid of change.

I always just wanted to have enough to carry on. I never had ambitions to take over the world or be a global enterprise. But I wanted to have a strong business in order to do the main objective.

I can't become naked for everybody. It's never going to be possible for the person to write the whole story completely, so I find bits of myself, bits of what I think in some articles. And I don't give lip service to journalists. I never make them feel comfortable. I say, "It's your job to make the story."

It would have more meaning for me to hear what critics have to say if their values and their ways of living were deeper and more serious.

I don't feel too excited about fashion today People just want cheap fast clothes and are happy to look like everyone else

For me, I haven't succeeded in any way whatsoever.