Hideo Kojima is a mastermind of creativity – even if he claims it's nothing special, the guy has a lot of wild ideas, and those apparently don't stop even when he's asleep.
Writing on Twitter, Kojima reveals he's stumbled across "a nightmarish memo" of a bad dream he had in early 2017. The Death Stranding creator says he's "always had a lot of bad dreams," and someone once suggested that he keep a dream diary. While "the nightmares didn't stop, and I eventually gave up," he's now shared an example of one of them.
In the dream, Kojima moves alone "to some hot spring town," where he lives in a boarding house with "only a back entrance," situated in a spot "surrounded by narrow alleyways." He explains: "The alleys twist and turn, and because things are piled up everywhere, they're so tight that only one person can pass through at a time."
Dream Kojima, as I'm deciding to call him from now on, decides to "clean up the surrounding paths that serve as everyday walkways" as a greeting to his new neighbors, and since those paths are just made of "packed-down dirt," he decides to "walk around spraying water with a hose" to "keep the dust down." It's at this point that things start to get a little weird, though.
"As I do this, I start running into various local residents. Most of them are voluptuous nude women who look as if they've stepped straight out of figure sketches or croquis drawings, or scar-covered elderly men who speak in foreign languages," he continues. …Huh.
2017/1/4 MemoThis morning’s dream. I move alone to some hot spring town. The boarding house I end up living in has only a back entrance, and the area around it is surrounded by narrow alleyways. The alleys twist and turn, and because things are piled up everywhere, they’re so… https://t.co/ryN1ylegm4January 10, 2026
But that's only the beginning. After finishing his task, Dream Kojima decides to head back to his room. "Then I suddenly notice that, as if the soil has dissolved from the water, four decomposing corpses are buried along the path. They remind me of artistic swimming: only the upper halves of their bodies are exposed above the ground, neatly aligned."
Oh dear. Dream Kojima is a rational man, however, and decides he needs to "call the police." However, as he turns towards his room to do so, "at that moment, all of the corpses begin moving at once. As if nothing were wrong, they shuffle toward my room and start relaxing inside, as though it were their own home.
"Then the doorbell rings, announcing a new visitor," he continues. "At that signal, the decomposing bodies revert to the forms of young men wearing relay race uniforms. From the entrance, a man who seems to be their coach steps inside without removing his shoes and begins scolding the athletes. What the coach was angry about, I can no longer remember."
I don't know about you, but I – as well as real life Kojima, I'm guessing – am left with so many questions. What was the corpse coach so furious about, and what could have been so important that he didn't take his shoes off before coming inside? We may never know, but I'd be very curious to see what the rest of the Metal Gear creator's old dream diary looks like.
