Metropolis is organic; Tenjin Fukuoka

Metropolis is organic. The metabolism is going on ceaselessly, like a clock never goes backward, changing its expression little by little but surely and steadily it is moving forward. It never halts and retains the balance. And metropolis is alive. You might take it for granted, but a city exists as a conglomerate of human intellect uniting all together.

街は有機的だ。絶えず新陳代謝を繰り返し、時計が逆には進まないように決して後戻りはせず、少しずつ、けれど刻々とその表情を変えてゆく。止まることなく動き続けて、平衡を保ち続けている。そして、街は生きている。当たり前といえば当たり前だけれど、街は人間の知力を集結させたものの総体として存在しているのだ。

I live in Kyushu. Kyushu is a southern island of the Japanese Archipelago, and we have long history flourishing our own dialect and culture. Hakata Fukuoka is a thriving port, gateway to Asian countries. There are many tourists from Asia, and you often catch English and Asian languages such as Korean or Chinese or others when you walk around the city. I’m proud of the lively atmosphere of Fukuoka.

私は九州に住んでいて、九州は日本列島の南部に位置し、独自の言葉と文化を育んできた長い歴史があり、福岡・博多はアジアの玄関口として栄えている港でもある。アジアからの観光客も多く、街を歩けば韓国語や中国語をはじめとするアジアの言語や英語がよく耳に入り、活気のある街は私の誇りでもある。

However, due to COVID pandemic the lively bustle of the city went away as if the tide goes out. Refrained from going out as much as I could and managed to cope up with the COVID crisis, while nestling at home trying hard to keep up myself. And at last I found a chance to go to the downtown Tenjin, the busiest district of Kyushu the other day.

しかしコロナ禍があり、その人並みと喧騒は、潮が引くようにサーッと静かになった。私も何ヶ月も不要不急の外出は控え、巣ごもりの日々をなんとかかんとか騙し騙しやり過ごしてきて、ようやく先日、九州一の繁華街天神へ行ってきた。

Since I shot down opportunities to see people and my day-to-day life was so plain and had minimum stimulation. Therefore, walking around the city itself was so refreshing and even touching. Two young ladies with bright hair color passed a pedestrian crossing talking merrily. A lady with short hair put on edgy black outfits from toe to mask, riding a black bike. Had a chat with a male clerk at a shop about soccer, shared our trip to premiere league game and he said “Thank you for the fun time.” And a doll in a show window of a high brand had weird figure.

人と会わない、刺激の極端に少ない生活が続いていたので、街を歩くとあらゆるものが瑞々しく新鮮で、感動的ですらあった。髪を明るく染めた若い女性が二人、話を弾ませながら、お洒落な後ろ姿を見せて横断歩道を渡って行った。黒づくめの尖ったファッションの短髪の女性は、黒い自転車にまたがり、マスクも黒で凝ったデザインだった。店員のお兄さんとサッカーの話をして、プレミアリーグ観戦の話題で盛り上がって「楽しかったです。ありがとうございました。」とお礼を言われた。高級ブランド店の飾り窓の中の人形が、何とも妙な形をしていた。

All these things used to be so usual and nothing distinctive, however it turned out to be something so pleasant and worthy, they speak to my heart warmly now. When I went into a shop, it was enchanting to see the neatly organized goodies. At a furniture shop, I found a table with a unique wood pattern and even though I don’t need one, it was almost tempting to buy. And went to a stationary shop and glanced through the sight of Japan famous pens, notebooks, and letter pads displayed beautifully. They are inexpensive but so high tech and it represents our Japanese inventive&creative spirit and the corporate efforts.

以前は気にも留めなかった普通の日常が、とても有り難い良きものとして、胸に語りかけてくる。店に入り、たくさんの品物が整然と並んでいる様も快い。家具屋に飾ってあるテーブルの木目調の組み型が面白くて、特に必要ないのに、ちょっと欲しくなる。日本が誇るペンやノートやレターセットなどの文房具の数々は、安価なのに高性能で、創意工夫と企業努力の結晶である品々が、居ずまい良く端正に広々と並ぶ様は、まことに美しい。

Yes, metropolis is an alluring big sized artificial landscape garden yielded by human creativity. Employment is generated, money circulates, and people come and go. You find value in ideas created by someone and you pay the price to possess it.

そうなのだ。街とは、人の創意工夫が作り上げた、拡大版の魅惑の箱庭なのだ。雇用が生まれ、お金が循環し、人が行き来して、人は人が作り出す着想に価値を見出し、対価を払って我が物とするのだ。

People come up with ideas and polish them up, and commodities are produced and by consuming them we sustain the economy. I should have known the facts for sure, but the economic activities dulled because of our nestling days and my sense of awareness got dull as well.

着想に工夫を凝らして形にして商品が生まれ、それを消費することで私達は経済を回してきた。そんなことは、とうの昔に知っていた筈なのに、コロナ禍の巣ごもりの日々でその経済活動は鈍化し、私自身の感覚も一緒に鈍化していた。

To say something extreme, it could be stated as a favorable situation for global environment that economy got stagnated since the burden gets less for the nature. But leading the discussion further, it will conclude that human economic activities and the existence of human beings are both something unwelcome.

極論を言ってしまえば、経済が停滞することは、地球環境にとっては負荷が減る望ましい状況であるのかもしれない。しかしその考え方で行けば、人間の経済活動を、人間の存在すらをも悪しきものとしてしまう議論へと帰着してしまう。

I was pondering over this or that while staying at home. But went out to the big city first time in a long time, and observed people coming and going, breathed the city air, and shopped around wondering what to choose. It was such blissful moments and it is our basic joy that you work hard to buy something you want. You take it for granted, but you’ll need to think about the activity seriously from now on.

あれやこれやを巣ごもり中に考えていたけれど、それでもやっぱり街に出てみて、往来を行く人々のことを観察して、街の空気を吸い、色々と物色して、欲しい物を手に入れて満足するということは大きな喜びで、この喜びの為に人は頑張って働くのだと、これまた当たり前のことについて考える。

Sustainable development for economic activities is one of the goals in SDGs, and it is going to be crucial for the world. We all experienced COVID crisis, and we should have learned better and obtained some wisdom. I want to believe that even though we went through tremendous pains and sacrifices, this COVID crisis made a significant contribution by giving us opportunities in order to have deeper and sincere discussions.

SDGsの中の一つの課題である持続可能な経済活動は、これからの世界にとって大きな課題となってくる。コロナ禍を経験した私達には、身を以て学んだ知恵が付いている筈だ。これからの都市のあり方について、経済活動の在り方について、議論を深めて行く契機となって行くように、コロナ禍は多大なる痛みと犠牲を伴いつつも、意義深い貢献をしたのだと思いたい。

LOVE and PEACE!

SAKURA 2021

BENTO LECTURE

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