Introduction to All Activities of "Mumeijin Interview"

My name is qbc! My real name is Yasuhiro Kuribayashi.
I am the organizer of an interview project called Mumeijin Interview, based on the concept that "It's not that they are interesting because they are famous. Everyone is wonderfully interesting."!
Started on February 11, 2020, the Mumeijin Interview has entered its fourth year, and is currently transforming into an interview platform organization that conducts various interview projects, including the "Mumeijin Interview" itself. However.
But you see, as a result of continuous changes,
I am worried that the content has become very difficult to understand for those who have just discovered this activity. I'm worried about that. You who are
reading this might be in the middle of having question marks over your head right now. In particular,
there are various ways to enjoy the Mumeijin Interview depending on how you participate. Like this.
・
So-called readers who read, watch, or listen to the content, ・
Participants who take part in the interviews, ・And
interviewers who conduct the interviews, I sometimes think that this might be the reason why things are getting complicated.

So! In this article, I would like to introduce various interview projects and future developments, focusing on the different ways to enjoy the Mumeijin Interview! Everyone! I would appreciate it if you could spare a little time to read this.

Oh, by the way, it is pronounced "Mumeijin Interview"!!!

What is the Mumeijin Interview?

It is an activity where we conduct 60-minute interviews with "so-called ordinary people" recruited on the internet.
The interview results are published as text articles on our note blog, made into videos and published on YouTube, or distributed as audio on Podcasts.
To date, we have conducted over 500 interviews in about 3 years!

[Way to Enjoy 1]
The fun for Mumeijin Interview readers

So, first of all, let's introduce the feedback we have received from Mumeijin Interview readers.
"I gain more knowledge," "It's a good reference for ways of thinking," "I feel relieved because they are similar to me," "It gives me the courage to live," "It becomes easier to accept the thoughts of others who are different from me," and so on.

The method of interviewing is usually limited to celebrities like entertainers, athletes, business people, or politicians, or, even when ordinary people are interviewed, it is as an employee of a company.
The Unknown Person Interview interviews the interview participant, 'that person' themselves.
Whether 'that person' is incredibly cool or cute, has amazing special skills or not, is wealthy or not, or is a good person or a bad person, I interview them regardless of such things.
Because, that person is 'that person'.
Whether they are a man, a woman, or their gender is unknown.
Regardless of which country they live in, whether they have a country or not, or whether they have an occupation or not.
The interview I want to leave behind under the name of the Unknown Person Interview is exactly that.
I want to leave a record of that person just as they are.
And that must not be something that costs money or anything like that.
Because that person is 'that person'.
The reason you can participate is simply because that person is 'that person'; that is the Unknown Person Interview.

When you read an article about how that person is helplessly 'that person', you might feel relieved because they are similar to you, or you might feel encouraged after reading it.It's mysterious, isn't it?
Reading an interview article means learning about the life of a stranger, so I think you can understand that your knowledge increases or it serves as a reference for your way of thinking, but I think this relief and courage need a little annotation.
The reason you can get relief and courage from reading the lives of ordinary people is, I think, because people who are not much different from yourself(people who are all around you but are hard to see on media like TV or the web) are definitely there, and you can know that they are living and going about their lives just like you.
By knowing that people just like you feel sadness and pain, joy and fun, and sometimes challenge their goals, I think you receive a positive influence.In the first place, after listening to the lives of about 500 people, what I think is, after all, the conviction that humans like other humans.
People, you know, find joy in knowing about other people.
Therefore, even if it is someone you don't know, or someone completely unrelated to you, I think that just knowing they are living there makes you feel affection and moved.

This is how to enjoy it as a reader.
Of course! This is just my opinion, so I think there are various other interesting ways to enjoy it. For example, having a friend take the Unknown Person Interview to get an opportunity to know your friend more deeply (there are actually people who do this! You can actually learn a side of them you didn't know before)!

You can read past interviews from this magazine!!!

[How to enjoy it 2]
Good things for those who participate in the Unknown Person Interview

Next, I will introduce the most common impressions from people who have participated in the interview!
"I felt refreshed," "I was able to organize my thoughts," "I was able to analyze myself,"
and so on.

Now, I have a small request for those reading this text.
There is something I want you to close your eyes and imagine.
If you close your eyes and could talk about yourself one-sidedly to someone you don't know, how would you feel?
Was it a clean and pleasant feeling?
Or were you caught in a slightly embarrassing sensation?
As per the participants' impressions written above, could you intuitively understand that talking about yourself is a pleasant thing?

My prediction is that most people probably haven't really imagined this.
Looking back on today, I don't think there was a single moment where I unilaterally kept talking to someone.This doesn't mean there was no conversation, but rather that there was no time spent having someone listen to me.
When you ask family or friends for advice, you might be able to talk unilaterally.
But what I'm talking about is, do you know how it feels to talk about your own life to a stranger whose face you don't even know? That is what I mean.

The time created by a Nameless Interview is 60 minutes of having a stranger listen to you and ask questions based on what you've said, that is.
To put it simply, when people talk about themselves to their heart's content, they feel very relaxed and satisfied.It seems it doesn't matter whether the other person knows you or not. However, whether the other person understands what you are saying does relate to that sense of comfort.
This sense of comfort is the foundation of the Nameless Interview. Talking about yourself to your heart's content feels good. It feels pleasant.

And, precisely because the other person is a stranger, you try to talk about your present, your past, and your future in an orderly fashion. Especially when prompted to talk about the past or the future, you might end up talking about your childhood, which you don't usually dig up in daily life, or dreams you've kept hidden in your heart that you've never told anyone before.
In that process, you end up reaffirming your own thoughts about yourself—what kind of person you have been, who you are now, and what kind of person you want to become. I don't know if putting things into words makes dreams come true, but
there is no doubt that putting your thoughts into words is the first step toward making them a reality.

Furthermore, the interviewer will ask you questions.
Regarding the life you have talked about and the life you have presented, a perspective other than your own will ask you questions with fresh interest and curiosity.
" Why did you make that choice?" "What did you feel at that time?" "If your dream hadn't come true, what would you be doing now?" Through questions from a third party, you will discover a new side of yourself.

In a Nameless Interview, the interviewer listens without engaging in excessive empathy or forced sharing of emotions. This does not mean ignoring the other person, but rather understanding and simply accepting them. Instead of rejoicing or grieving with the participant, we simply listen to their life and try to get to know them better or discover a new facet of them.
And the answers to the questions are not within the interviewer, but within the participant's heart. By empathizing, we try not to hinder the participant from facing themselves.
One participant told me that the feeling during the interview was like being in a boat in the middle of a quiet lake. They told me they were able to spend time slowly and carefully looking at their own thoughts.

[Recruitment] Nameless Interview

If you are interested, please click this button to apply!

You can read participant impressions and project interviews from these magazines and articles!!!

[How to Enjoy Part 3]
The rewards of being an interviewer

Actually, the interviewers are also "so-called ordinary people"!
Everyone currently working as an interviewer for the Mumeijin Interview team is someone who has shown interest in the activity of Mumeijin Interview and raised their hand to try interviewing themselves.
They have received training specifically for Mumeijin interviewers, but they are not earning money by conducting interviews.
Mumeijin Interview is an activity where ordinary people talk and ordinary people listen..

And there are many good parts for those who are interviewers as well.
"You can experience the raw intensity of the participants' way of speaking and phrasing"
"You can talk to people you wouldn't normally meet"
"You get better at listening and asking questions"
and so on.

Currently, the main form of expression for Mumeijin Interview is text articles. This is a consideration to avoid making participants nervous, which can happen with video or audio, but still, the intensity of the human voice is lost.
Interviewers can experience this raw sense of presence.
While feeling the breathing, tone, and voice quality that cannot be fully expressed in text articles, you can talk to people you would not be able to meet in your daily life.

This communication outside of your daily range unexpectedly refreshes your mental state.
I think it's fine to think of the lives of strangers as a little "journey".
It's not an intense stimulation, but it becomes an experience that lets you forget your daily life for just a little bit.

And I think the most practical benefit gained through being an interviewer is that you become better at listening and asking questions.
Every interview is checked by me, the organizer qbc, and I provide guidance if necessary.
I don't think there are many opportunities to have your own listening style heard objectively and be told that you should do something more like this. With this interview feedback, your way of listening changes quite a bit.
Also, gaining confidence by talking to various people is a benefit that cannot be overlooked.

[Recruitment] Mumeijin Interview Production Team

Click here for member introduction articles!

About future Mumeijin Interviews

So, I have been talking about Mumeijin Interview. Actually, I also wanted to write about project interviews and interviewer training courses, but
it seemed like it would become incredibly long, so I will introduce only some of the project interviews.

[Recruitment] Interviews with Japanese people living abroad

[Recruitment] Shin-Mumeijin Interview (Video Interview)

What kind of person is the organizer, qbc?

Born in 1978. From Tokyo.
Started the "Mumeijin Interview" project in 2020. The concept is "It's not interesting because they are famous. Everyone is wonderfully interesting."
Interviewed over 400 unknown people in about 3 years. Currently formed an interviewer team of about 20 people.
Interviewed people of all occupations and generations, including business owners, doctors, lawyers, scholars, teachers, civil servants, company employees, nurses, chefs, artists, fortune tellers, musicians, IT engineers, idols, comedians, sex workers, drug addicts, students, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, and shut-ins.
[Work History]
Laundry shop (venture) in Yoyogi-Uehara, Shibuya Ward.
Futon renovation shop in Nippori, Arakawa Ward.
TV mail-order shop in Hatchobori, Chuo Ward.
SNS shop (venture) in Toranomon, Minato Ward.
Public bathhouse in my hometown, Kodaira City.
Job types included sales, consultant, IT department manager, etc. I did various things from cleaning baths to purchasing down, sales, marketing, management, various planning/product development, and strategy formulation!

I wrote a book!

These are well-read articles!

Writing novels is my hobby!

History of Mumeijin Interview

Click here for the official website