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February 23rd, 2009 | Itoi
This week, Shigesato Itoi and his company of 40+ people are all on vacation in Bali. I think this is the second time he’s done this. It’s crazy that he can afford to fly that many people out there and have them all stay there for a week, then send them all back. But he’s Itoi.
Anyway, today, on his site, he left this message before leaving. It reminded me of stuff in MOTHER 3 somewhat 😛
Each time I went to Bali (Mato Note: with his wife, not the company) before, I always did this one thing, almost out of custom: I watched ants.
While reading a book or lounging around or yawning while I sat with my legs in the pool, I would observe ants.
Finding and carrying food, fights over territory, invisible boundaries, incidents and annoying onlookers, hard workers, slackers… For someone observing them, I would watch them all quite seriously.
My observation of ants in Bali has proven quite useful ever since then. It’s hard to explain, though.
He continues:
But when I take the entire company with me, it’s not the same. It becomes “do, do, talk, talk, eat, eat, look, look”. There’s the fact that everyone is younger than me, but I don’t think I’ll have time this time to watch ants. That’s how it was last time.
But maybe I will try to mix in some ant observation this time too…
I wonder if his mention about his ant observation being useful later on had to do with MOTHER 3. There were a lot of ant-related things in the game where ants did actual ant things. Anyway, I thought that’d be interesting for people.
So the rule of thumb is: to be like Itoi, just watch ants!
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19 Comments to Shigesato Itoi, Ant Watcher
 | Poe said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
I can’t watch ants, they make me feel itchy. I like watching other bugs though. Caterpillars are pretty cool.
 | Darien said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
I’m fond of spiders. Especially when they’re actually building webs — that’s really neat to watch. And I like to watch bees buzzing around things.
 | madammina said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
I think it’s a mixture of Itoi and the frog thing.
You never notice ants, but they are everywhere and you wouldn’t step on one.
Like frogs a bit. Plus Mother is all about noticing the normal in an odd way.
 | Deiphobus said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
invisible barriers???
oh, i know how he gets his whole company to Bali and back. PSI Teleport (Omega, by the way, he has that much skill xD)
 | Bono & The Peace Corps said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
Haha, man, it’s always fun watching bugs and stuff. I remember when I was a kid “bug catching” was a really big craze and we made them have silly fights and stuff.
 | Q said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
@Bono: That pastime is actually the inspiration behind Pokémon, by the way.
 | ropesnake said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
I actually just got off the TV playing the part with Duster where the ant explains about combos and hypnosis…weird!
 | IWontGetOvertheDam said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
That Itoi sure has some crazy hobbies.
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| Viewtiful_Justin said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
I used to watch ants whilst hanging from a swing in my backyard. I have pages and pages of journal entries about this one colony that used to get wiped out by rain and work furiously the next day to put everything right.
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| Jimi said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
In his defense, SimAnt is a lot of fun.
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| zedrein said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
Oh Shigesato!
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| Perosn said on Feb. 23, 2009 |
Yay! I been watching ants for years! And building death traps for them!
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| Feykie said on Feb. 24, 2009 |
Ugh, I can’t stand ants. The ants near my house aren’t even interesting; they just appear on my food magically. I’m more interested in this one spider that has built a gigantic web.
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| NessRules said on Feb. 24, 2009 |
Even the ants that explode?!?!?
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| toxicofthetoad said on Mar. 2, 2009 |
@ NessRules: Those are the best ones! xP
I used to be curious of ants, but I rarely watch them anymore.
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| me. why are u asking my name!? said on Mar. 3, 2009 |
i always watch and feed ants. it’s a big pasttime of mine.
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| Matteomax said on Mar. 31, 2011 |
Hmm.. I wonder if he has seen any Titanic Ants…
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| TheMr.SaturnGuy said on May. 5, 2011 |
I have never heard an ant say anty anty antant!
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I used to watch ants when I was a kid. I was really into the anthills that would spawn on the cracks in the pavement.
Now that I’m not a kid, I don’t watch them so much. Mainly because having them in my house drives me crazy. 😮