The writer is as old as me, though it's he. And he was born in TOKYO (this means he was born in a big city.) and now he works at UTSUNOMIYA (this means he works at a local city.)
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When we were college students( it means about 30 years ago) , we would enjoy our daily lives without worrying about our future especially our jobs. (Of course we know that now it's a hard time to seek jobs even though they graduate from college.) But anyway for those four years students were independent of parents ( though it might had been mentally.) and parents also independent of their children. At that time the youth would seek three "KOU"s (it means "high") -- high academic background, high income, and tall height ( it means cool looking). And the youth are now parents. they don't want to let their children go adventure, clever parents analyse cost performance even though they can afford to educate their children. And they say to their children that " three "hei"s are enough for our lives." Three "hei"s are calm life, average income, average looking.
So,
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I often feel there is a big barrier between Tokyo and Utsunomiya.
I like this calm Utsunomiya's life. On the other hand I like the active Tokyo's life.
I understand what he says.
On the other hand, an interesting occurs.
This writer was born in TOKYO, and now he lives in UTSUNOMIYA. And he may choose UTSUNOMIYA as the place he will live after he will retire. Actually we will do. The interesting thing is that the senior generation will be complterly different from the generation about 30 years ago. In Utsunomiya's case, it is a middle sized city , so many branches of big companies is coming for these 30 years, it means many people moved to here from a big city including us. Our generation doesn't like to see UTSUNOMIYA getting dimminished. Now we are facing a problem of aged-city. UTSUNOMIYA is a middle-sized city, so it might be easy for this city to be attractive city for aged-people. And if it's an interesting city for aged people, it must be influenced to young people.
2 comments:
A difficult concept to express in a second language but good for you for giving it a try! The only real question was your use of the word "pipe"...not sure what you were trying to say there.
Just as some people like to play chess as their hobby others like to ski, and that's the same with the ability to choose where you might live (especially in retirement, when you do often have a choice.) Many thrive in the city with the noise, the busy environment, the many places to go for dining and recreation...such an environment energizes them...makes them feel "alive." But others find inner peace in the more quiet environment of the country side...the gardens, the birds, the trees, the farms and the slower pace of life. It makes them feel in tune with themselves and the Universe.
Of course, there are other factors...the cost of living in the big city, with Tokyo being one of the most expensive in the world. And, even if you live there you are most likely living in a very small, impersonal apartment with no privacy, and you live by the bus and train schedules rather than the independence of a car. And, although there are more museums, restaurants, theater, concerts, etc. available...in reality, how much do you use them and how much does it cost to use them? Here, only the very wealthy can live in a city like NYC and attend the theater, opera, ballet and go to fine restaurants.
It's interesting that the "level of expectation" of parents today has lowered so much. Perhaps it's more realistic in today's economy and perhaps those goals are perfectly fine. But, it also depresses goals of exceptionalism and high achievement and makes for a society that accepts "average" as its goal..which then may become below average. Is that backward thinking? Jan
Thanks Jan. It's good that once people see outside and after that they determine to come back their home. Probably what he said is many young people don't go outside. People living in a big city don't know country cities, and people living in a small city don't know big cites. Of course many Japanese people don't know foreign countries and even now not so many people go to study abroad. But anyway we want to lower the barrier between a big city and a small city.
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