Here are some pictures of the NEO staff in our Halloween costumes in case you didn’t see us in person.
友達ではなく知人程度の人を町なかで見かけたら、アナタは声をかけてほしいですか？
私の誕生日だったので友人とお茶をしたのは珈琲好きのお店。小さなお店ですが、珈琲豆を買う人、珈琲を飲んで一息つく人、いろいろです。お一人様の方も複数いらっしゃる中、お歳の大きなおじいさんたちがそれぞれお一人でやって来てお茶をして、それからまた帰っていかれます。自宅でテレビの前にずっと座っているよりも、時間と労力をかけてﾖｯｺﾗｼｮと家を出て、外の景色を見ながらコーヒーを飲む姿を見ると、平和な日本であることが幸せです。きっと今までお仕事を長年され、お年を召され、自由時間をゆったりと過ごすことができているのでしょう。
と、そこへまた白髪交じりの細身のおじいさんが入って来られました。ふとお顔を見ると、見たことのあるお顔です。直ぐに思い出しました。お世話になっていた小児科の先生です。この４月で閉院されたのですが多少偏屈で物をはっきり言う先生でした。ただここの看護師さんが皆さん天使のような優しい看護師さんばかり。先生は多少キツイものの、見立ては正確で看護師さんがとても親身だったので長年お世話になった医院でした。その先生がお歳になって閉院されことも知らずある日医院の駐車場まで行ったら建物はもぬけの殻でした。
その先生が同じ珈琲ショップにいらっしゃる。お礼を言うなら今…と思いながら結局声をおかけせず先生が立ち去っていくのを眺めるのみだった私です。なぜって、私が逆の立場であったら、無防備で自分のテリトリー外にいるところを顔見知り程度の人に襲撃されたくないから。
と言い訳をしがらも、今このブログで私がグチグチと言い訳をしているということは、やはりあの時にお世話になったお礼を言うべきだった、その機会を逃したことを痛感中です。
写真は折角のその珈琲店ではなく、その前に食した韓国冷麺。そのお店では、韓国の人がキッチンで冷麺を作り、東南アジア出身の人がテーブルに出してくれ、隣の席は英語を話す観光客の座る国際色豊かなランチでした。
Recently, the Osaka Expo finally ended. Back in July I wrote about my trip to the Oska expo. But at the time, I knew I wanted to go again. There was so much I did not get to see during the first trip. I managed to go again at the start of October. While I knew the second time would be busier and have a lot more people, I still thought it would be worth going. And I am glad I did, because I got to see many other interesting things and places.
Our day did not start so great, however. We first went to the Nordic Circle pavilion. The first time I went it was closed for an event, but I really wanted to go. Sadly it was probably the most uninteresting pavilion of the two days I went. It was small, did not have much to show, and most of it was very generic environmental ideas. A little later we lined up for Turkey’s pavilion for about 20 minutes, but it was also disappointing. It had one interesting sculpture, and big screen showing a video about Turkish cities of the future and then guided everyone into the gift shop where they wanted to just sell Turkish goods. Sadly, a lot of pavilions I wanted to go to were also ‘reservation only’, and we failed to get any reserved.
Thankfully our day started to get better after these pavilions. We went to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) pavilion which had no line, and you could immediately get into. It was unique as it was one giant room with many pillars, and lots of displays and exhibits around the room. Shortly after we visited the Nepal area. The first time I went, it was not finished. It turned out to be one of my favorite spots in the expo. They made an area that felt like a small Nepalese town square. It had many different food shops, several souvenir shops and an upstairs area that they called the pavilion, but it was a display of Nepalese art and sculptures. They were amazing to look at and were incredibly detailed. We ended up getting lunch in the area too. I bought some samosas which tasted great.
We wanted to go to some bigger pavilions before our day was over. We had to spend some time in lines, but got into Belgium, the Czech Republic and France. Belgium was very well put together. While a lot of other countries talked about future environmental projects, Belgium presented a lot about their medical research. I learned a lot of things that I did not know about such as Belgium’s vaccine research and development. They also gave away a lot of free Biscoff biscuits which was nice bonus. The Czech Republic on the other hand was not what I expected at all. It was designed around bizarre art by a famous artist. It was the kind of art that is hard to describe as it was so strange and unique. It was the strangest pavilion I went to on the two days I visited. Sadly I do not remember the name of the artist. Finally, there was France, one of the most popular pavilions at the expo. France had a big focus on Louis Vuitton, and a lot of the rooms were modern art made in collaboration with the brand. I do not know if there was some deeper meaning for it or if most of it was just advertising. It was visually a great experience, however.
Overall I had a great two days visiting the Expo this year. It was a unique experience, and I got to see and learn many things from many countries around the world. I was always curious about what visiting a world expo would be like, and I am glad I got the chance.
Harold. That was the name of a murderous scarecrow in a book of short horror stories I used to read when I was a kid. It’s a name that can still make my hair stand on end, all these years later. The book was designed for kids, but the tale of Harold and his victims was especially terrifying.
Last weekend, my friends and I stopped by a small village in the Iya Valley region of Shikoku. We were at the end of a two-day hiking trip, driving along winding mountain roads, heading back towards Okayama. One of my friends had found a place on the map labeled simply as “Scarecrow Village,” and we were close enough to stop by. I felt some of that childhood trauma stirring inside me, but we got out of the car and started looking around.
Scarecrow Village was aptly named. There they were, hanging out around the information center, seated on the side of the road, peering in through windows, laboring over stacks of hay in the field. There appeared to be a married couple as well as a grandmotherly figure reclining on the floor. Scarecrows everywhere. There were dozens of them, each with unique clothing stretched over a lumpy body and a carefully crafted face.
Across the road, it got even weirder. There’s a long-abandoned elementary school standing in the shadow of Mt. Miune, and the old gymnasium is open to visitors. When we walked inside, we let out a collective gasp. The entire gym was filled with many, many more scarecrows, standing or seated in various poses. Some were in kimonos, and others were lined up on the stage or watching from the floor. It was as if we had interrupted some silent ceremony.
Altogether, there were several hundred scarecrows scattered throughout the area. The human population of the town? Only about 25.
In the daylight, with two friends and a couple other tourists, it was funny. Almost quaint. But if you imagine an entire town filled with slumped-over scarecrows…after three decades, I thought Harold may once again start making an appearance in my nightmares.
It’s not all gloom, though. We were lucky enough to meet Ayano Tsukimi, the mother of all these newspaper-stuffed mannequins. She told us the story behind her shrinking town of Nagoro, and her plan to add life to it by attracting tourists to the small community. Tsukimi-san lovingly crafts each scarecrow, often modeling them on real people that she knew, or even characters from famous manga. The town has gained plenty of attention on social media, and many tourists have found their way to Nagoro over the years since then. Some of them even donate clothes or other materials to help the cause.
Well, that obviously changed my perspective a bit. Scarecrow Village may look like a great place to shoot a horror movie, but there’s something much sweeter – and maybe a bit melancholy – under those old shirts and latex gloves. Tsukimi-san has found a clever way to memorialize her loved ones and, in the process, help revitalize the small town.
Harold has no place here, after all.
A trio of scarecrows waves goodbye to visitors (and offers to sell them some chestnuts).
今年も９月がほとんど終わり、１２月まであと2か月少々。少しでも涼を求めて、行ってみたかった徳島の大塚国際美術館へ足を運んで来ました。世界中の絵画の名作が「全てレプリカ」として楽しめます。本物であれば筆遣いや濃淡の細かさをこの目で見てみたいと思うものですが、レプリカだと関係なし。実際に作品群をじっくりと見るということにはなりませんがそれでも見知った絵画が飾られているのを見つけるのは楽しいのです。というのも大きな美術館でもなかなか有名作品ばかりを立て続けに目にすることはないからです。有名な作品の前には人だかりが出来ているので、遠目にもあそこには有名作品が飾られているのだと一目瞭然。モナリザ、もちろん。モネの作品群、もちろん。ゴッホ、もちろん。ルノアール、もちろん。テレビのCMで更に認知度の上がったフェルメールの真珠の耳飾りの少女も展示されていました。
レッスンでその絵画の話になった際、色彩の少ないこの作品で目立つのがターバンの青と黄色のコントラストです。絵画の心得のあるK生さん曰くこの青は独特で再現することが難しいそう。顔料の中でも青はとても高いとは知っていましたが、触発されて調べてみました。この作品の青にはラピスラズリが使用されていたらしいのです。ラピスラズリといえば半貴石で、時にはこの石が金よりも高価であったようです。そしてびっくり。ラピスラズリは現代の日本語においてはカタカナで表記されてしまっていますが、和語では「瑠璃色」でした。仏教の七色の一つの、あの瑠璃。そしてウルトラマリンもカタカナで定着していますが、原材料としてはラピスラズリ由来で、「海を越えてやって来た」という意味だそうな。つまりフェルメールの少女が纏っているターバンは瑠璃色なのかぁ。この瑠璃色を言葉で表現すると、青と紫の中間色で、紫を帯びた鮮やかな濃い青色ですって。
こうして日々、役に立つか立たないか不明な知識を得るのです。
