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いつもと同じ、英語の下には、日本語で書きごとあります。
(I will not make any comments of my own. I will simply italicise my favourite passage.)
Chemistry
The number of people who have no intention to work or who are not working is increasing. As indicated by the kanji character which means "to work", it means to continue our life by moving and sweating; it is different from just having a "job". Having an income is not equivalent to work. It is fortunate if we can work and the happiness which comes from our being able to work is real happiness. So many retired old men who look boring and women who just try many free food samples without buying anything at the food floor of department stores are living at the housing complex I live in. They seem to be products of our pensions. The systems related to pensions, nursing care and subsidies created by stupid elites have ruined us and destroyed the history and culture in towns and cities in Japan. Children are seemingly beautiful potted plants by being grown up to their parents' satisfaction. Can we call such a situation happy?
Two years ago, at a corner of my town whose streets and buildings have significantly been remodeled, an old-fashioned Japanese sweet shop run by students was opened. There are so many children who are smiling proudly like an adult in the shop. No smartphones! This is what we should be!
Originally, Japanese culture was born in a small tatami-mat room. It is not the culture cultivated in an open space but in a small room or alley. Speculations, politics, ideas and words of love have been born from the conversations in a small tatami-mat room. It is based on a Japanese-specific chemistry with a distinct interval and depth grown with the Japanese language which is the most delicate and poetic language in the world. Originally, Japanese language with sensitive words was not appropriate for speeches, discussions and laws. Actually, democracy which has directly been imported from the western world and values largeness, broadness and abundance cannot be implemented in Japan. "Bigness is better" cannot always be applicable to events, theaters or amusement parks.
Incidentally, the owner of Gallery Ryo suddenly passed away last autumn and the gallery was closed. So, my one-man exhibitions which have been held for 10 years during the Sakura Festival at the end of April have been canceled. I feel lonely rather than sorry by the news, but due to the heartfelt effort by people in Hirosaki including Mr. Yasushi Nakamura, my one-man exhibition will be organized for 3 days from May 17 to 19 at Tanakaya Gallery at Ichiban-cho. I am looking forward to your visiting the exhibition.
...
(自分の意見をいらない。好きな句をイタリック体に変わるしかない。）
あうん
働かない者、働いていない者が増えた。働くとは文字どおり人が動いて汗して生活を継続することで、単に“お仕事”についてることとは違う。収入だけあればいいということでもない。人が働けることは、しあわせなことで、喜びもそこにあるのが本当だ。私の住む団地では定年をむかえ退屈そうな老人、デパートの地階で試食品をやたらつついては買わずに歩いている女性たちがウヨウヨしている。これも年金のおかげだろうが、頭の悪い秀才たちのつくったこれら年金や介護や補助金の制度は、人間を駄目にし町や市の歴史や文化を破壊してしまった。子どもらも大人の思いつきの綺麗ごと路線に乗っけられて鉢植え状態だ！ はたしてこれでいいのか!?
一昨年、街も建築も大きくされ改造されたわが町の一角に、学生たちが運営する駄菓子屋ができた。狭い店の中をのぞくと大人顔まけの子どもたちの得意気な顔で満ちている。スマートフォンなどない！ これでいいのだ!!
もともと日本の文化は、四畳半の文化だ！ 広場の文化ではなく狭い部屋や路地で培われてきた文化なのだ!! 四畳半の語らいからは思索も政策も発想も男女の愛の言葉も生み出されてきた。それはあうんの呼吸で間（ま）と深みのある世界一繊細で詩的な日本語を育んできた。感性豊かな日本の言葉はそもそも演説や議論や法律には向いていない！ 大きいこと、広いこと、多数であることが良いとする欧米直輸入の民主主義も本当は日本では無理なのだ。催事も劇場も遊園地も“デッかけりゃいい”というものではないだろ！
さて、１０年続けてきました弘前のギャラリーRyoが昨年秋、画廊主の大橋耕造氏が急逝され閉館となり、４月末の桜まつりの個展はなくなってしまいました。残念というより大変寂しい思いでいましたが、中村康司氏はじめ弘前の心ある方々のご尽力で５月１７日から１９日の３日間、一番町の田中屋さんの画廊で個展を行うことになりました。皆様の暖かいご来廊をお待ちいたします。
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allt
(sorry for the overall inactivity over the past month: as my school expects me to be revising whatever i learn every day and i have not, yet, figured out how i can do that without being exhausted or bored while studying four subjects, i have very little time and energy to work on longer writing, except only, maybe, whatever i write for the school newsletter now)
this is a really fascinating text and i very strongly agree with the first paragraph (i am currently on the search of what i could actually work as an adult and have encountered the idea of “all people like to work, but not all people like to have a job” once that search, in expected me fashion, took a philosophical turn)! while my own agreement with this statement comes from the fact that i, personally, strongly do not want to work for any organisation i do not support or as any part of a system that harms people (because i actually want to be someone, something that is also talked about here) (several people in my class think that i am going to be a historian or a politician and i always reject the latter! on the topic of politics, i am absolutely loving my politics lessons so far: exactly as i expected, i am learning a lot of things that help me a lot with understanding how politics works currently and historically and, to me, the politics a-level is, essentially, history but with events that happened in the uk very recently, which is absolutely up my alley! also, single transferable voting systems are on the syllabus (the most notable example for the use of those in the uk is the northern ireland assembly, as, in order for power-sharing to actually work (somehow, i would say. the northern ireland assembly is notorious for frequently being suspended, most notably for five years between 2002 and 2007 (due to the fact that the ira had not disarmed by 2005 and the sinn féin party came under pressure as a potential arms supplier to them, which led the assembly to be suspended in 2002 and meant to be elected in 2006… before michael stone (he is also the perpetrator of the milltown cemetery attack, which i will probably talk more about in a bulletin post (or maybe even a blog entry!) because i have learnt so much more about operation flavius through my research on media involvement during the troubles) broke into the assembly building that year!), there has to be a somewhat proportional amount of republicans and unionists in the assembly (yes, i know that that is messed up, but i think the very precious peace there is in northern ireland right now should be respected as much as possible and ejecting the unionists from parliament may lead to traumatising circumstances for ordinary people because many loyalist paramilitaries still exist and would react to that (my politics textbook has a really funny picture of a very angry-looking arlene foster, first minister of northern ireland back when the textbook was written, standing next to a smiling martin mcguinness))) and so is the good friday agreement and my teacher told me that we are going to be talking a lot about northern ireland. i am excited!) or for a person like my stepfather, the fact that, for many people, the desire of having a job is just often nonexistent culturally and likely came from things like colonialism (for example, kenya never used money before the british wanted kenyans to pay taxes to them when the country was colonised. also, i think the fact that perception of time varies culturally should be considered when thinking about this as well!) is also an incredibly important and incredibly intriguing perspective on that.
the part about children being compared to potted plants “grown up to their parents’ satisfaction” and how depressing this is resonated with me a lot, especially as today was the day that my mum realised that, actually, no, i will not have a career in maths or physics because i am not passionate about these subjects (my mum allowed me to drop physics next year which i, most likely, will do. i am keeping maths though: everything is taught in so much detail at a level and it is so fun to me!) honestly, i really wonder how exactly she (alongside my grandma, who still regrets that i did not do a-level economics because she wanted me to work in the same field as my mum because i remind her of her (this is intriguing to me because, it seems, that her suggestions on what i will do later on in life do not hinge on the usual “this job makes money, so you should do it”, but on a social, family-related reason, which is unusual)) will react to the fact that i will, probably, end up doing something she never expected me to because she always imagined me doing scientific research, but i really, really hope that this is something she accepts. i also, of course, strongly appreciate the part that you especially did: the fact that the western model of big business and big government (i think the japanese constitution is based on that of germany?), while helping japan remain an unconquered major power since the 1890s, is ultimately harmful to the intimacy of japanese culture and society is definitely something sad and very fascinating!
firstly, I understand that school is a priority for you right now. I did miss seeing you around, though I'd not been active until the past few days myself. on one hand, it is a valuable exercise in discipline to use our time to focus on studying (which allegedly will bring us future worldly success) rather than what we wish we were doing instead; on the other, the self has an unquenchable need to be preserved & expressed, so I often do not have much success in focusing on school over myself for a prolonged period of time. in situations like these, I often think of the question we were once asked in economics: "would you rather work a high-paying job that you hated, or a low-paying job that you loved?", & I remember that my response was the latter.
I really liked tsuzen's opinion on how we need to 'work' in order to feel alive, & share a similar awareness of nuance. although the word in japanese is indeed used in reference to working a job, I think of it more as an 'exertion'. perhaps it is better said that, in order to feel alive & purposeful, humans need to have something that they are exerting themselves on. (this is why I do not value employment as much as others my age; I simply have other things that I exert myself on & find significance in.) your reluctance to work in systems that are not in alignment with your morals is significant (as your self, well, expressing itself) & makes me wonder if you would benefit from spending some time working in a not-for-profit. this might alleviate your worries about not making the most of your abilities (e.g. in politics) or not doing the mysterious thing you "should've been doing all along" (as per your family members' suggestions.)- I am considering writing another blog post about how we don't need to have all of the answers as we are right now. we worry too much about getting to the end, the perfect grand finale, & not enough about being involved in the journey that will take us there.
there is something about tsuzen's writing that makes a part of me consider him an "old fart", but I would be keenly interested to hear him go into more depth about what he highlights- specifically how the japanese language was too 'delicate' to be used in speeches & political matters, & what it is about the nature of the japanese spirit that makes it incompatible with the western conceptions that it wisely keeps at arm's length. it is a shame that he has not considered adding the writing of a book to his artistic repertoire; but somebody as strict as him would have cultivated that strictness in the creative areas he focuses upon.
(my apologies!! I wrote my response as a separate comment rather than a reply, so you wouldn't have been notified of it! this was written ten days ago, for reference.)
by kitkatanddog; ; Report