If I hadn't become a Go professional, I might have aimed at becoming a callig rapher. When I was in kindergarten, I learnt a little with a hard brush. I quit because of moving house and starting Go, but even now I like writing characters.

If I couldn't write a character as I visualized it during school lessons, when I was taking notes, I would keep on rewriting the character in a corner of my notes until I was satisfied. Even now, when I'm making memos, I find that unconsciously I have filled up the paper with meaningless characters, done in my own calligraphic style, and I can't make head or tail of the original memo.

Also, when I was a student, I joined the flower arrangement club, so, in any case, I would probably have been expressing myself in an art connected with traditional Japanese culture.