Watage: Being lonely is not a negative thing. Let's make loneliness a bright spot.

creator　Watage

■ Profile
She is a lonely female college student creator who was once ranked number one among teenage girls' favorite TikTokers. She has over 1 million followers on TikTok, and her "Take a TikTok Without Being Found Out" contest became a huge hit. Since she has no friends on YouTube, she has been sharing her "loner activities," such as eating out alone or going out alone, which has resonated with many people and become a hot topic.

When he found himself a loner in high school, he began posting on social media as a way to find some peace. However, now he has become an influence on many loners, bringing courage and joy to them. We spoke to this "loner professional" about what inspired him to start his activities and his future plans.

■The reason for starting this activity was to rely on people on social media

I transferred to a correspondence high school due to a difference in direction. Since there's no concept of attending the same class every day at a correspondence high school, and the COVID-19 pandemic has meant I've been stuck at home not being able to talk to anyone, I felt I had no choice but to turn to social media, and so I started posting on it. Even now, I'm not very good at talking to people, to the point where I'm not good at talking to people at places like hair salons or nail salons, but because I can communicate through text only and over the screen without any preconceived notions, even someone as "introverted" as me has been able to participate.
However, at the beginning of my activities, I tried to dance cutely while hiding the fact that I was a loner, but I didn't make much progress (lol). So I thought that if I could turn my complex into a strength, it could become my individuality, and as a result, I made it public that I was a loner, and now I have a lot of followers. Before I started, I was worried about what my friends back home would think, but by taking that step, I got better results than being made fun of.
Also, the reason why I, a loner, decided to go to university was because my older sister was attending university and I thought I could avoid feeling lonely by joining clubs and such. I wasn't able to join clubs and such, but I was able to create opportunities for communication through group work and other activities, so I'm glad that I went to university. If I hadn't gone to university, I might have ended up living my life without talking to anyone in my private life (laughs).
People who watch my videos often tell me that I'm not really a "loner" but more of a "business loner." However, I don't walk around with a "loner" sign hanging up in my daily life at university or elsewhere, so I think it's only because I have people supporting me online that I'm able to talk about it in my videos and at work. I'm really grateful to my fans and those who leave comments.

■ I want to make being alone a brighter experience.

Since I started posting videos, I've noticed that people who are struggling with loneliness or relationships are empathizing with me and encouraging me to say things like, "I tried going out to eat alone!" I previously posted videos of me going to Universal Studios Japan and Tokyo Disneyland alone, and I felt like people were enjoying it and giving me a little courage, with comments like, "You're really going? That's funny!" and "If Watage-san can go, it seems like it'll be fine going alone." I also made a new discovery while posting videos, and that is that surprisingly, there are a lot of people who don't care about what others think. I thought going to Disney alone would definitely stand out, but since everyone was having fun, it didn't get that many attention.
Also, when it comes to transferring schools or not attending school, I sometimes hear from people who are not attending school that they saw my videos and talked to their parents about it, so I think it's amazing that I can influence people's lives by giving them the courage to take a step forward in life. However, because I show myself as I am in my videos, when I skip school I get comments like a mother would, which gives me a pep talk on a daily basis. My videos are made possible by the comments of my fans, so your comments are truly my driving force.
In my future activities, I would like to take on two challenges. The first is interacting with fans. I sometimes worry, "What if an AI is typing my comments?" So, I'd love to come up with an event that even loners can enjoy, and I'd love to be able to interact with them. The second is making being a loner cool. The term "solo activity" has become popular recently, and many people probably think it's cool. However, I think many people have a negative image of the word "loner." So, I want to make being a loner popular by letting more people know that being a loner is fun and shifting the word's image in a more positive direction. I call myself a "loner professional," and I want to become a charismatic loner and overturn the concept of being a loner into something more positive. For example, if a shop has a poster of me hanging up, it will visually convey that the shop is welcoming even for loners. I want to be that kind of symbolic presence.
However, my dream is to throw away my smartphone and live in the mountains of Switzerland without having to interact with other people (laughs).

■Message to university students (same generation)

I know that many people have trouble with relationships, but I want people to know that there are people who live happily without interacting with others. In the worst case scenario, I want people to know that "it's okay to be alone." I also believe that complexes can become part of your personality depending on how you look at them, so even if you have complexes, if you change your perspective and live cheerfully, I think life can be fun.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on May 3, 2022 by Hayato Tane, a fourth-year student at Chuo Gakuin University