Takashi Murakami: Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Takashi Murakami said elsewhere, not written here

Increasing forgetfulness.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

Sometimes I follow my instincts more than my reason.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2013 source ↗

Zadie Smith Novelist and essayist

Narcissism, solipsism.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2016 source ↗

I am a massive people-pleaser and it brings me nothing but trouble.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 January 2025 source ↗

I’m quite stubborn.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 November 2025 source ↗

To be so cold that I am not able to sleep.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2018 source ↗

I’d like to increase my brain’s computing speed.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 13 September 2018 source ↗

When, as a university freshman, I would go to the ocean in the summer and free-dive all day long.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 13 September 2018 source ↗

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