Algorithms have such a strong pull these days, it’s easy to surround ourselves with the “usual choices” and become biased toward our past choices.
What could be real "time off"?
This journey was inspired by a French journalist who always takes the time to read articles written from a perspective completely opposite to her own.
あるフランス人ジャーナリストに「自分の意見とは真逆の立場から書かれたコラムを必ず読んでいる」と聞き、今回はいつものアルゴリズムに逆らうような旅をすることにした。
休日といえば、リラックスとか好きなこと。そういう旅も、繰り返すほどにその先が見えてきていて、不満はないが新鮮味もなくなっていたから。いつもの逆にいくと、何が見えるんだろう。
Japanese may look alike from the outside, but on the inside, people’s values can actually vary quite a lot from region to region.
So this time, decided to go against the usual holiday algorithm and visit a region where the local values and way of thinking seem quite opposite to my own, to find something unexpected.
いつもの逆をいくために、初めてのバックパックで出かけてみた。そして途中、都内の駅で猛烈に後悔した。が、意外にもこの選択は80%正解で、東北のローカル線から先では逆に馴染んだ。
To experiment with the opposite, I set off with my first travel backpack and deeply regretted it at a train station in Tokyo along the way. But it turned out to be 80% the right decision once on the local trains in Tohoku, as no one was carrying a suitcase.
「"いつもの好き"に囲まれるのんびりした休日」を封印し、"いつも"とは逆の思想がありそうな土地に向かう。簡単には超えられそうにない巨大な山々に360度囲まれている盆地。山の向こうはさらに山。この環境は人々をどんな気持ちにさせるんだろう。
たまにしか来ないローカル線に乗り換え、ほとんど誰も降りない山中の駅を何駅か通り過ぎた。
4時間ほど電車にゆられた。目的の駅に着くなり、この土地に古くから伝わる「ならぬことはならぬ」というオキテが書かれた大きな看板が、誇らしげに改札の前に立っていた。駅だけでなく、通りやお店、ホテルのロビーに至るまで、「ならぬことはならぬ」と書かれた看板やサインが街の目立つところにたくさんにあって、「これが、アルゴリズムの逆ってことか…」と背筋が伸びた。
To go against the usual, I said goodbye to the usual “relaxed holiday surrounded by favorite things” and headed for a basin surrounded by layers of mountains. Taking a local train that only comes occasionally, passing several stations deep in the mountains where almost no one got off. How does this environment make people feel?
Almost 4 hours on the train, the scenery changed to deep countryside. Aizuwakamatsu, here I come.
The big sign at the main station welcomed visitors with the words, "Don’t, because just don’t (ならぬことはならぬものです)”, a traditional saying that has been passed down since around the 1860s.
Actually, I saw the same message on signs around town, on the streets, in shops, and even in a hotel.
The journey of the opposite has just begun.
The First Test Of Locals ー オキテと空気
この土地に伝わるオキテは、私の馴染みとはほぼ逆だけど、あらかじめ看板で思想を周知してくれているのは、ある意味、親切なのかもしれない。
日本人はだいたい見た目は似ているわりに、「ならぬこと」に関する思想は地域やコミュニティによってかなり違うし、それを言葉にせずに空気で伝えようとするから、推測違いの誤解も多いと感じる。書いてあれば、ひとまず尊重はできる。
The local philosophy here is almost the exact opposite of what I’m used to. But in a way, having the local rules and philosophy clearly written on signs in advance might actually be considerate, as at least we know what to respect.
Historically, in Japan, leaving your area, community, or even your job was almost seen as a sin, keeping people remarkably rooted where they belonged. This tradition still runs deep in rural areas, and even I, born and raised in Japan, experience culture shock every time. Perhaps this lack of mobility helped develop each region’s uniqueness—and the unspoken local rules (“air”) that come with it.
看板で見たこの土地の習わしにしたがって、「戸外での飲食」はとりあえず控えておいた。そういえば屋台とか見かけなかったな。
Following the traditional rules seen on a big sign, I refrained from eating and drinking outdoors, just to blend into the local “air”.
手書きのサインに惹かれてふらっと入った古民家のカフェはローカルの溜まり場だった。居合わせた客たちは皆ほぼ毎日来ているという。明治時代のコンパクトな間取りの古民家の中では、客同士の物理的な距離は近くなる。物静かなタイプの客も多く、その場の会話に耳を傾けながらも自分の世界に入っている感じが印象的だった。
A handwritten sign and a distinctly Japanese folk art feel caught my eye at an old Japanese house on a backstreet.
It was a café in a house built over 100 years ago and passed down through generations, now a local hangout. Almost everyone there came by nearly every day. Inside the compact layout of this old Japanese house from Meiji era, people are naturally sitting quite close to one another. Many of them were rather quiet, and they seemed to be enjoying their own inner world while listening to the conversations around them.
もっとも外交的な常連客のひとりとしばらく会話をしていると、数時間かけて山を越え、県外からわざわざ買ってきたという自慢の大粒シャインマスカットをいただいた。これだけ雄大な山々に囲まれている土地では、山を越えるのも一苦労だし、県外からのおみやげはきっと貴重だ。
While chatting with one of the most outgoing regulars, I was offered some prized, large premium grapes that one of regulars had brought all the way from another prefecture after hours of driving over the mountains. In a place surrounded by such vast mountains, crossing them must be quite an effort, so a souvenir from outside this region must have been something quite special.
分厚い山が壁となり、なかなか外部の人がたどり着けない環境。自制的なオキテが目立ち保守的な人が多いこの土地では、ヨソ者がこうした待遇をうけるのはすごく珍しいことらしく、大きなぶどうを頬張りながらオキテの一次試験に合格したような気分になった。
Apparently, this is quite unusual in this rather conservative part of the country, where locals usually avoid contact with outsiders unless they work in tourism or something. With layers of mountains forming a thick wall around the region, there was historically little contact with the outside world. The shiny, big grapes felt like a reward for passing the first test of the local philosophy.
The journey continues... 後編へ続く
Written & Photographed by Natsuko