日本人であれば、宮沢賢治作の童話「注文の多い料理店」を知らない人はいないだろう。
ベルリンに行った。日本では野良猫をたくさん見るけど、それに比べるとヨーロッパには少ない気がしなくもない。狐とかリスとか、他の動物がいるからだろうか。ところで最近偶然にも猫の話を聞く機会が多い。知り合い達が猫を飼い始めたり、Legacy Armaniのコラボに猫がストーリーのメインにいたり。アルマーニさんの飼っていた猫インスパイア？らしい。そんな具合で、私は「注文の多い料理店」を思い出した。
ざっくりあらすじを説明する。2人の裕福な小太り兵隊たちが2匹の犬を連れて狩猟に山に入るが、案内の猟師と逸れて迷ってしまう。そこで不思議な西洋料理店を見つけて入るが、そこは客に対して注文の多い、山の化け物が客を襲う料理店だったというストーリー。最終的には兵士たちは助かるが、恐怖のあまり紙屑のようにくしゃくしゃになった顔は東京へ戻った後も2度と元には戻らなかったというオチ。
最後に読んだのなんて、小学生のころだろうか？再読して調べてみたけれど、著者宮澤氏本人は著作を『糧に乏しい村のこどもらが都会文明と放恣な階級とに対する止むに止まれない反感』という言葉で説明した。よくあるジブリの自然vs人間の構図ともいえる。けれどこのご時世、この童話の背景と現在の社会情勢、そして大量虐殺の歴史を持つドイツの地に立ち、やるせない気持ちを抑えることはできなかった。

まず「注文の多い料理店」のメッセージの一つとして解釈されていることとして、最後兵士たちが助かる事から、学んで次に活かしていくことの大事さが挙げられている。間違える事・失敗する事は、全くもって悪い事ではないと。そこで今読んでいる本「日本人と『日本病』について」と私の解釈の通過点で少しリンクする部分があって。すっごくざっくり説明すると、日本の規律とかは本当に相対的に決まるし、はっきりとしてないって。何故なら唯一神がいないから。対して西洋文化圏は、歴史的にすべての約束が神との間の契約を元にしているので、絶対に守らなければならない。でないと神を裏切る事になるからと。という意味では、間違えることや失敗することは、日本みたいに全然柔軟ではなくて、もう一歩道を踏み間違えて許してもらえず、堕ちたら堕ちるしかないみたいな感覚も実は欧米諸国に先祖を持つ人々ならあり得たりするのかなと。そういう規定概念というか先祖代々無意識のうちに受け継がれてきた雰囲気のようなものも、現代の社会にも影響を与えている可能性もなきにしもあらずなのではと思う。
Tedで私のお気に入が2つあって、1つは指揮者Benjamin Zanderの『The transformative power of classical music』、もう一つがKiana Hayeriの『A photographic journey through the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan』だ。別に似通った内容について話しているわけではないんだけど、この2つを聴いていつも思うのは、自分がどれだけありがたい環境にいるかを、どれだけ簡単に忘れてしまうかということだ。彼らはアウシュビッツ収容所から帰還した女性の話や、アフガニスタンの紛争の最前線に立つ若者たちにインタビューした内容などを話してくれるんだけど、今普通に生活を送れること、家族が無事であること、大切な人がこの世にいることがどれほど価値があることか、そして現在を生きる私に具体的にできることは何か、など、さまざまなことを考えさせられる。これはウクライナ情勢やガザ地区の問題についての状況を記事などで見た時も同じことだ。少なくとも自分なりに、それらの問題への意見を持つこと。無関心であらないこと。自分の意識・自分を拡張すること。
そしてまた違うベクトルの話だけど、同時に思うのは…人間として、生きる一個体として、生きる実感みたいなものを追求する、1つのことに闇雲に突っ込んでいくのって凄く生存している上で美しい瞬間の重なりなのではないかなと。死ぬ覚悟で海に毎度挑む漁師、大怪我をしても厭わないストリートのスケーター。本当に同じ日々を安定をモットーに生きる都市に住む人々と彼らとの間には、大きな隔たりがあるように感じる。エネルギーの大きさというか。まあ詰まるところ、生き方は人それぞれなんだけど。けど彼らと上のTedの話との共通点は、生を享受している自覚ではないかなと思う。それこそ、前述の岡本太郎著作の『沖縄文化論』に通じる部分でもある。つまりは一瞬一瞬を生きろと。一人一人が目を開いて何かを感じて真摯に動き出したら、バタフライエフェクトで何かが変わるかもしれない。ひょっとすると著者宮澤氏も、そんな希望を心の片隅に置いて本を書き終えたのかもしれない。

ところで最後に猫に話を戻すと、実は猫は8-9000年？くらい基礎的な遺伝子が変異していないらしい。これがどれくらい凄いのか正直ピンとはこないけど、だから日本では猫といえば妖怪のイメージもあるのかなと思った。けど猫って、自ら家畜化したらしい。生き抜くためにおそらく、自分が1番ちょうど良い環境に適応したらしい。
一方人間は、いつまで経っても学ばない。戦争に戦争に戦争、いつまで経っても同じことを繰り返す。皮肉な話にも、これが人間の人間による自然？不自然淘汰なのかもしれないと考えてしまうほどに馬鹿馬鹿しい。もし未来のどこかで誰かが2023年地球の出来事を勉強することがあれば、それには「資本主義という自ら作り出した貨幣という制度に踊らされて同種同士で殺し合いをした悲惨な時代」という見出しがついてしまうだろう。
正直一個人に何ができるかは分からないが、無関心にはならないように。リスペクトを持ちつつできることがあればできるように、日々を重ねたいと思う今日である。以上
2023/12/12

I have no doubt that you know this fairy tale called 'The Restaurant of Many Orders' by Kenji Miyazawa if you grew up and were educated in Japan.
I went to Berlin for the first time. I see many street cats in Japan, but it seems there are fewer of them in Europe compared to it. It may be because of other animals like squirrels and foxes in the cities (that makes their lives a bit harder?). I've heard about cats in general relatively often these days somehow, by the way. For example, some of my acquaintances have got their cats or the brand our legacy collaborated with Emporio Armani on the concept of two cats that represent both of the brands and so on. Apparently, it's originally inspired by Armani's cats, just as a note. Anyway, all of these things reminded me of 'The Restaurant of Many Orders'.
Here is the story roughly. Two chubby rich soldiers go into a forest with two dogs for hunting, but they get lost halfway being apart from a huntsman who was guiding them. Strolling around they find and get into a restaurant that looks interesting, but it is actually the one run by cat goblins and they request many orders as the guests go deeper through the doors so the cat goblins can attack and eat them properly. The soldiers survive in the end, but they get terrified so badly that the experience leaves many wrinkles that look like some crumpled pieces of paper on their faces forever.
The last time I read it was almost like when I was in elementary school as far as I remember.. Reading it again and searching the background, I got to know that the author Miyazawa described the story as 'antipathy of children in the poor villages to the modern civilization and the sybaritic class'. It seems similar to the composition of nature vs human beings in Ghibli. But this time, it hit me hard in a bit different way as I was thinking about the background of the story and the recent social situations, being in Germany that has a history of horoscopes.

First of all, it's said one of the messages the author wanted to leave through the story is the importance of learning and making use of the experience, judging by that the soldiers eventually survive. It sounds to me that making mistakes and failing something are not bad things at all. When it comes to this point, it links with the book I'm reading called “Japanese and 'Japanese Disease'” on a stepping stone to my interpretation. To explain the story of the book roughly, all the disciplines in Japan are comparative and vague because there is no one and only God. On the other hand, in Western cultures, every promise is historically based on the contracts between yourself and a god so you must keep it at any risk, otherwise, it means you betray a god. In this way, it might be that making mistakes or failing something cannot be forgivable like in Japan, and the people who have ancestors in Western cultures have the feeling that if you go astray and cannot come back, you fall deep down to the end and there is no help. If this kind of notion or the atmosphere descended for so long from the ancestors, it's not surprising that it might possibly affect modern society. That cannot and shouldn't be a reason for any crimes or wars though.
I have two of my favorite episodes on Ted. One is called “The Transformative Power of Classical Music” by the conductor Benjamin Zander, and the other is called “A Photographic Journey Through the Taliban's Takeover of Afghanistan” by Kiana Hayeri. It's not like they are similar, but there is something in common. It is that every time I finish watching these, the question that pops up in my mind is why it can be so forgettable the appreciation for yourself being able to be in a grateful environment. They talk about a lady who is a rare survivor from Auschwitz and an interview of the young boys standing on the front lines of the conflicts in Afghanistan. Those stories really make me think about so many things. For example how precious it is to be able to live a normal life, to have my family and my friends that are safe, and what I can do specifically as myself being alive now… etc. I feel the same when I see the articles or get to know about the situations of the people in Gaza and Ukraine. At least I think it's good to have your own opinion from your own perspective and ideally to take action without being indifferent to them. You expand your focus and yourself.
Although it's a little bit off, what I also think about along with those above is that it is like a combination of beautiful moments to plunge into something without any hesitation to pursue the feeling of being alive as a human being, and as a living individual. Fishermen who are ready for death every time they brave the sea, and street skaters who don't care about getting seriously injured.. it seems there is a huge gulf or I would say the difference of the energy between them and those people who like living almost the same day over and over securely. It's up to the person at the end of the day, but the thing in common between those who live the moments and the stories from Ted talk is the consciousness of reaping/enjoying their lives, I guess. It also connects to the book 'The Theory of Okinawa Culture' by Taro Okamoto to some degree. So, it tells you to live your life moment to moment and open your eyes to feel things fully so you can take action and make something change like butterfly effects. Perhaps the author Miyazawa had that hope on the side of his heart when he finished writing the book.

Going back to the topic of cats, apparently, their fundamental genes haven't changed for at least 8000 years. I honestly have no idea if this is actually mind-blowing, but I assume it's one of the reasons why in Japan cats in general remind people of phantom cats. But here is a more surprising fact. It's said they domesticated themselves. In order to survive and to be able to live in the best environment, they changed themselves.
On the other hand, humans never learn, or it has been taking ages. Wars never end, people do the same things. It even makes me think that this ironically might be a natural selection by humans for humans. If children somewhere else in the future happened to learn about what happened around the 2020s, the title of the textbook would be 'A Tragic Era of Capitalism where people of the same species killed each other due to being affected by the system of money they created'.
I'm not sure what I can do as an individual, but it would be great if I could spend days doing what I can do if there's any, with self-love and respect. That's what I've been thinking about these days, period
12/12/2023