THE HYDE (AUTOBIOGRAPHY TRANSLATION)
(Chinese to English)
Just to let everyone know, I translated this from Chinese to English. Since I can also read some Japanese, I was able to compare the Chinese translation with the original Japanese to make sure there weren’t any significant inaccuracies, and I have to say the Chinese translation seemed to match the Japanese one pretty well.
If you’re able to read Chinese, the original Chinese translation of this chapter, as well as other chapters of THE HYDE can be found here: www.nihongotw.pixnet.net/blog
This is just a portion of Hyde’s thoughts regarding death. I felt compelled to translate this and share it with everyone because while it made me feel a bit sad to hear Hyde talk about his inevitable death and death in general, reading this part of the chapter really gave me the sense that he really cares about his fans and their well being—which of course made me a bit emotional and admire him even more. Haha. :)
Anyway, here’s the translation:
…There is something else that I have been concerned about for a long time now. That is, when a famous person passes away, the fans will attempt to follow that famous person and end his/her own life. I’m extremely terrified of this kind of situation. Even for me, there will be a day when my life will end, no? Of course, I’m not talking about ending my own life, but when it comes down to it, I won’t know exactly when or how I will die. But if that day comes and a person or fan tries to follow me by ending their life, I don’t think I would be able to rest in peace. Also, I do not wish for another person to be buried because of me. I just really hope people will not take such extreme actions because I believe death and dying means there will be absolutely nothing in the end. And it is not as if they would be able to meet me if they ended their life. But on the other hand, let’s say if “that place” (heaven) actually exists, we will eventually be able to finally meet anyway, right? So while a blind-sighted fan may end up feeling hopeless because I’m not around anymore, I really wish for them to think it through and not do anything drastic—because ultimately, the music will never die. So even if I’m gone, the music will continue to live on forever. I truly believe that and my hope is for the music to end up becoming that fan’s hope and will to live on.
Furthermore, because it is well known that one suicide can lead to another, if a person were to end up taking his/her own life, I really hope it doesn’t end up on the news. Because whenever a famous person passes away, due to the news letting other fans know of the suicide, it may influence more people to end their own lives. In that sense, you could even say this sort of action (reporting news of suicide after a celebrity death) equals murder. This is also something I wanted to say here in this book.
