As One Network

Community Saijiki literary calendar

Nichinichi Kore...(Our daily lives are …)

坂井和貴(Kazuki Sakai)

Nobu-chan, one of my old friends living in Tokyo, came to visit us. It was just the day before yesterday.
She stopped by on her way back from a trip to Kyoto, so we only talked for about two hours at the community café space.

She wanted to see Mr. Iwata's Japanese paintings hanging at the entrance.

She asked Mr. Iwata many questions one after another, such as
"Hey Takashi, how did you draw these lines?"
"Oh, it's so wonderful to be able to ask the artist directly!"
She was delighted to be able to ask Iwata face-to-face.

Nobuchan, who has made it her life's work to paint pictures herself, said,
"Now, Takashi, you paint every day, don't you? What motivates you to do it?

He replied, "Before, I used to think that I would paint something like this or win an award, but those were extraordinary motivations. Now, painting has become my "everyday" life. I wonder if I am painting the "everyday. If that's the case,"
" I wonder what kind of paintings you are doing." Nobuchan murmured.

The two of them never stopped talking about painting. I was watching them with a smile on my face.


Painter "Takashi Iwata" who lives and paints in the community

Nobuchan, Mr. Iwata, and I were friends in our school days, when we were active in the "Tokyo Young People's Association," which, in retrospect, is a very lame name for a group of people. When we started talking, we immediately warped back to those days.
It was a period of less than two years, but it was the kind of day that would create a relationship that would last a lifetime.

"Iwata-san and I are now part of the same [family] in the community."
I began to explain to Nobuchan, who knew little about this place.
"The Suzuka community is like a big family, but there are about five [families] within it, and each [family] has its own meetings, meals, and other activities to see and get to know each other. Our[ family] even held a solo exhibition of Mr. Iwata's paintings, and we are planning to do it again this autumn..." and so on.
And as we talk, I find myself looking back and wondering what kind of "daily life" we are leading.

The "sa" in "Satsuki"(May in Japanese) means rice dedicated to the god of rice fields or early seedlings planted in May. This is the time of year when the rice paddies are in full swing, and with the planting of course comes the chorus of frogs.
From the window of the community dining room, we can see a small rice field about two-tenths hectare across the road.
At dinner time, the orchestral sound is so loud that one would think that all the frogs in the Suzuka area have gathered in those rice paddies.
Every Thursday evening, it is our [ family's] turn to create a place where the community members who come to the dining room can relax and enjoy dinner. Men and women of all ages come by, and we can see the faces of the recently enrolled Academy students and those who have come from around the country to experience and practice the program. It's not like being on duty or in charge, but the feeling of harmony in a family.

After sending off everyone who is satisfied and cleaning up, the tea time with [family] members is also very special. We chat, listen to each other's petty stories, and lose track of time.
We asked, "Where did frogs live before we planted the rice?"
"Well, maybe they were hibernating in the rice paddies."
"But if they did, they would have died on the rotary of the cultivator before rice planting."
"That's true. Then, did they come from somewhere watching the rice planting?"
"But I've never seen a parade of frogs coming to the rice paddies!"
I googled it for the time being.
"Well, it says they are in the grass, mountains, and forests."
"We are in a residential area with a few rice paddies, so there are no mountains or forests nearby, and I don't see any grassy areas."
The conversation was about trivial matters, but Nana, Lucio, Reiko, and Toshimi all felt a sense of curiosity like they did when they were children.

Later that day, I was passing by that rice field. I saw three-year-old Akari playing in Tachibana Park diagonally across the street, so I called out to her.
She pointed and said, "Look, there's a frog in the hump of this tree!"
"There are more frogs in the grass here."
"Oh~, really? Where are they?"
I was so surprised to notice that even in a town like this, there are many places to find frogs, and I couldn't wait to tell my family members about it the following Thursday.
Iwata-san suddenly said, "I have discovered how to stop the chorus of frogs." Our family's frog research continues.



We're gonna paint the roof of the SCS!
Let's do it together!
The roof is rusting.
We will do it on May 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
SCS is our building and we'd like to keep it for a long time to come.
I want to take this opportunity to paint it together .
The work is very easy and we want to do it with our own people and not outsource it.

I want to finish it all at once before it gets too hot, when it's cooler and drier.
We have something for everyone, young and old, men and women, so we can get in an hour when we have some free time.
I'm going to make it so you can go up the stairs.
Just look at it 👀!
It'll be fun! I'm sure it will be.

Responding to a LINE message from Koichi, a community member, the Academy students and our children climbed up the stairs to the roof set up by the scaffolders one after another. From rust removal to rust prevention, and finally, each [family] climbed up on the roof to get covered in paint.
During the "Golden Week", a week consecutive national holidays, we were blessed with fine weather and painted the roof, which is more than 500 tatami mats in size, in one color of silver paint. Exactly the Silver Week?

As Mr. Yagi often says.
"We live in a very big house. We have rooms all over the place, and we walk down a long driveway to SCS (Suzuka Culture Station), where everyone's dining and living rooms are located. It's a huge mansion~."



"We rethatch the big roof of our own house by ourselves."
"We rethatch it ourselves, so it will be more our house."
Rethatching thatched roofs in Shirakawa-go, famous for its gassho-zukuri style of architecture. There is a group called " Kumi" or "Yui," and everyone in the village rethatches one house in one day.



My mother's birthplace was in a mountain village with a thatched roof.
I asked my grandfather, "Grandpa, don't the rain and snow sink into the house? He replied, "You see, we have a fire here on the hearth. This smoke goes up to the roof and dries and smokes the thatch. This is what makes a thatched roof strong. So you don't have to worry about it."
In such a house, we live together in peace and security, so we become closer and closer.

I think family is so interesting. Children cannot choose their parents, grandparents, or siblings.
They just happen to be born there, become children of that family, and live together.
It is not that they live together because they are close, or because they are intimate with each other, in the beginning.
We don't have a special day, we just go about our daily lives, one day at a time.
But as we live, we become a family. Before you know it, you become intimate and close, and a bond is formed that will never be shaken unconsciously.



Today's [family] is somewhat similar.
Each of us did not choose to be a part of this [family], but we became a [family] by chance.

And we live together, one day at a time, in a normal, non-special way.

We are close to each other, but because we live together, we become even closer, we melt into each other.
Then you will want to live together more and more. We become unshakable "one".
Not only the [families], but the entire community will be filled with such a spirit.
And not just the community...



After my activities in the Tokyo Young People's Association, I chose a completely different career path than my parents had hoped for.
I still have a letter in my desk from my mother, who was very much against it, and who was saddened and cried a lot.
"If you have decided on that path, you should finish it."
I became aware of the awesomeness of my parents. Those words at the end of the letter have been one of my driving forces for a long time.
No matter what happens, no matter what I do, family will always be family. My mother and father would never change, they would always look after me, they would always love me, there was no way they would ever hate me or give up on me, and no matter what I did, I would always be okay. I was always driven by a kind of air that floated in the depths of my heart, which was different from my consciousness, and it always became a gentle tailwind to move me along.

The air current that has been formed by living together with my father, mother, brother, and grandparents every day as a family has been unshakable and clear.
Riding on this current comfortably, I have seen people, interacted with people, and lived with people. .
I have made many friends and associates, and my relationships with them have deepened into brothers and sisters and family members.
When I became a parent, I realized that there was a never-ending wellspring that overflowed from within me, and that I would continue to pour out to my children. I soon came to realize that it is not limited to my own children.

And then there is the daily life in the current community.
The daily life depicted in Mr. Iwata's paintings, the daily life that appears in each person's place of work, the daily life that emerges in our daily lives...
The "daily life of play" that is unnoticed and danced with ingenuity and love on each stage in each corner of the community...
Where does this day by day life lead us?
Where shall we direct the overflow of our lives?
No matter what happens, no matter what we do, my [family] will not leave us alone, and no one will be left alone.
Being in the same lotus, not a lotus, but a big boat, day by day...our daily lives are…

Late last night, Ina-chan sent a picture to the [family] group LINE.
"Fireflies are flying above our rice paddies."



Akari, Kokoro, Hana, Natsuki, Umi, Tatsumi, Sakuto...the faces of the children of the community, one after another, come to mind as their eyes light up at the glowing fireflies.
The rice paddies are about to be filled with early summer activity.

Playing with Building Blocks

I think it was the summer of my third year in elementary school, when the boys' choir I belonged to at the time held a camp.
It was an annual event for about 50 elementary school students held every summer vacation at Nakabusa Onsen, the entrance to Mount Tsubakuro in the Northern Alps. The buses would rock them up a narrow gravel road with no guardrails, for several tens of minutes.



The location is at an altitude of 1,462 meters above sea level. We slept in a large cabin-like building beside a magnificent mountain stream, and then ascended a long flight of stairs to a splendid indoor hot spring pool.
Various memories come back to me, but I can't help laughing when I can't find any memory of the crucial chorus practice.

That summer, on the eve of the last day of the camp, the weather in the mountains was wild and stormy.
When we went outside the next morning, we found that the mountain stream, which had been so clear, had turned into a muddy brown stream, covered with splashing water, and large rocks were being washed away with a rumbling sound.
We cheered at the sheer force of it all.
Soon after, the choir teachers informed us.
"There have been several cliff collapses on the mountain roads. We can't go down the mountain today."
We cheered again.
"We can stay here with the others longer."
"Yay, what are we going to do?"
"Teacher, no more choir practice!"
"・・・・・"
We were so glad for the cliffhanger.
From there on, it was all fun and paradise.
We ran around to see the muddy stream, played cards and ping-pong, dove into the brown, bottomless hot spring pool and played ninja, watched high school baseball on TV, and played as much as we wanted.
I don't know how many days we stayed, but when we ran out of food, the rescue team that came up the mountain carrying their backpacks gave us rice balls to eat and we cheered again.

In this day and age, it would have made the big news that "Children stranded at Nakabusa Onsen Hot Springs due to a cliff collapse were left alone and helpless."
The situation might have made the national news.
I am sure that the adults were big-hearted about the situation, and we children were just happy to play with each other. I don't think we were anxious or worried.
I don't know if we were aware that something might have happened, but the adults would take care of it, and we just left the whole thing to the adults and were floating in the calm sea of peace of mind.
I think everyone has probably had a similar experience.

"How can children laugh and play under such circumstances?"
I sometimes see such scenes like that. Recently, more and more. I am surprised at the sight of them, and at the same time somewhat relieved and relieved, but I also wonder if that is the original nature of us human beings.
It's also the reason why we doze off on trains and buses.
We are quick to put water or food in our mouths.
We can breathe in and breathe out the air of wherever we are and with whomever we are with.
It's in our nature to do so.
Most of the day is spent in such a way that we let our guard down.
We don't suspect nature, society, or people at all.

We live relaxed and defenseless without checking every single thing such as who is driving the car or who made the food, and soon.

Speaking of " Losing Strength”
Right across from the Suzuka Culture Station, there is a children's gymnastics class.
There is a large glass window, and every day there is a crowd of parents who come to watch their children's gymnastic activities from outside.
Just across the street, I caught a glimpse of a boy doing a nice big wheel on the bars in front of me.
I was amazed at how he was spinning so effortlessly, even though it takes a lot of strength to go up and down.
I observed that he seemed to be "relaxed" all the time.
His body was flexible like a whip. His hands were not clenched tightly around the bars, and some of his fingers were floating. I am sure that he is working efficiently only in his core and other necessary parts of his body, and is not straining in any unnecessary parts of his body.
Looking back at myself, I realize that I would not be able to do the big wheel of life if I had to be on guard and defensive at every turn, with all my muscles and mind tense. To keep spinning comfortably and to play around forever, we simply loosen up, let our guard down, and let our true nature take over.



Since its opening in 2010, the Suzuka Culture Station, which is located in the center of the community, has undergone the "customary" remodeling work.
Visitors often ask, "What's changed again? They are right.
From the outside, it may seem unplanned and inefficient.
I have often reflected on what I would have done if I had been able to envision the future, and I will leave that for the future, but for now, the expansion work is underway to prepare for the movement of the five Korean students who entered the Academy this spring and the young people who will follow them.
Mr. Motoyama, a carpenter in the community, is working on the project.
Not only here, but also at the community's offices, facilities, and the houses where each of them live, if there is anything that needs to be done...
"Mr. Motoyama!"
is always called out to him.
"The toilet is clogged."
"The wallpaper is peeling."
"I need a new air conditioner."
"I want the floor waxed."
"I want the rust removed from the roof."
"・・・・・"
There is no way to describe the sense of comfort and familiarity we feel when we can call on him anytime, over and over again, no matter what the need. It has become as natural as breathing the air, but it has soaked into the heart of each and every one of us in the community.
And there is Mr. Motoyama, who responds to that feeling.
This is also a matter of course, but I have never been criticized for doing something like that from him.
"How do you want to do it?"
It is pleasant and enjoyable just to have a conversation about how to do it. Even if I make changes in the middle of the process, he responds with a "yes, yes, yes! So I can say or ask as many times as I want without hesitation. And finally, I am fully satisfied with the finished product.
For me, it's like having a big brother who is always there with his carpentry tools among the big family, saying, "All right, Leave it to me". So I leave it all up to him.

Mr. Yagi, who works with me at the office of HUB, laughed and said, "I have never thanked Mr. Motoyama even though he has fixed a lot of things fo us."
That is the kind of relationship we have with each other.
The existence of one person like him is really significant.


(Mr. Motoyama, the community's carpenter. 1st left)

The current renovation is like a bunch of grown-ups getting together to play with blocks.
"I want to open up the dining room, so I want to empty out the food storage room next door."
"Well, let's turn this interview room into a storage room..."
"Let's move the clothes closet and renovate that room into a meeting room."
"We can install the sliding door of the clothes closet directly into the food storage room."
"Can't the hallway be converted into a dining room?"
"Then let's move the temporary storage in the hallway to this storage room."
"・・・・・・・・"
The ideas kept coming, cool ideas, unoriginal ideas, unusual ideas, and gradually, breakthrough ideas began to emerge among everyone.
We are planning to complete the project around the end of May, but I wonder how it will turn out.
I wonder how it will look to visitors at that time.
Piling, breaking down, piling again...
It is fun to assemble the blocks, and it is also fun to break them down.

This may be a bit of confidential information, but the answer to Mr. Yagi's question, "What is your favorite animal? The answer is "human."
Playing with building blocks is fun because you are playing with people.
Because people come close together, more and more interesting blocks are created.
(For example, I get nervous because there are other people around, or I get anxious about what someone says or does.)
Even if you have a habit of getting stuck in a "The maze in your head that doesn't exist" that you have somehow acquired, you can easily get out of it.
But if you slip out of it, you will be aware that what is in front of you is only a human being, and he or she will clearly come into your sight .
You are a human being, I am a human being, and when we meet, what shall we play together?
Because we feel at safe and calm among humans, we can play with the building blocks.
Because there are always people around, there is no fear that the blocks will fall apart, or even if they do, there is no worry.
If we are swept away together with humans, there is no difference in our enjoyment, whether in clear or muddy stream.

"My favorite animal?" I think it's "human".

>

A person who can be welcomed

"From 18 to adulthood."
I was watching the morning news and saw such a feature.
The age of adulthood, which has been set at 20 for 140 years since the Meiji era, will be lowered to 18 on April 1, 2022, according to a revision of the Civil Code.
High school students interviewed on the street corner expressed their confusion and anxiety, but what the feature dealt with was how to prevent new 18-year-olds from becoming involved in crime.
Since they will be able to get credit cards and sign various contracts without parental consent, the number of cases of being cheated or scammed will increase. In preparation for this, high school classes have already incorporated countermeasures against malicious tactics and cooling-off procedures.
What does it mean to be an adult, to become an adult?
What will the surrounding society be prepared to do for that?

On the same day, I saw an article on FB that I had posted in the past called "Memories from 10 years ago. Sometimes FB posts such things on its own, and I rarely look at them, but that day I happened to take a peek.
There was a photo of Yuumi on the day she was graduating from junior college and also a comment.


Today is Yuumi's Junior College Graduation Ceremony She has spent the last two years learning and living in community. She has worked part-time at "Mother's Bento," dropped by Suzuka Culture Station on her way home from college to study and doze off, been treated to meals at various homes of Hiroko, Teruko, and Yoshiko, and had her hair done today by Junna from a hair salon in community and her kimono dressed by Hiroko from a tea ceremony class.
From April, she will start working as a nutritionist and prepare meals for children. She lives a few kilometers away, but I hope to continue to watch over her in the community.





Ten years have passed since then.
Yuumi will soon be a mother of four children.
She now plays a role in Cherish, a place where infants and toddlers in the community can grow and learn.
Not only that, she also organizes various meetings and acts as a big sister to the young people, and just by having Yuumi there, the conversation spreads in a harmonious atmosphere.

It was four years ago, in April 2018, that the [ScienZ Academy] began in the Suzuka community, opening its doors to young men and women between the ages of 18 and 40.
However, as a preparatory period, or rather as a preliminary step, we had prepared a place called "ScienZ Study Abroad" for a little less than 3 years. The program started on July 4, 2015 with two youth from Korea and Japan, and a total of about 50 people gathered to experience the community.
Yuumi came to the community as a young adult about five years before the "ScienZ Study Abroad" program began.

Diego, a young man from Brazil, arrived in February 2017.
He studied as a ScienZ Study Abroad student for one year and two months, and then as an Academy student for three years.
He will return to Brazil the day after tomorrow, March 31, for the first time in five years. To the Brazilian community that sent him back.

Scienz Academy" - Nurturing the next generation of society's creators.

He spoke only a few words of Japanese, and tried to stand tall so that people around him wouldn't think he was an idiot. 　His five years in the bento shop began when he criticized the work as a drifter, which is just like Chaplin's "Modern Times" and not a job for a human being.
I had a farewell dinner with him last night, and I got the impression that we have become closer, that he is loved by everyone around us, and that we have become easy partners who have nothing to resist each other.
I wonder what kind of steps he will take in Brazil.





Last fall and winter, four new members joined the Academy, Kohei, Shizuka, Rie, and Azusa, the long-awaited Jung-in joined us from Korea with the lifting of travel restrictions, and this March, Naoe and Ayako will be leaving.

People who listen to what I have to do and what I want to do and respond to it.
Even when things in my mind seem hard and heavy, they don't try to crush or break them.
Softness that accepts the whole as it is I can smoothly enter into that person.
Before I know it, I and other people melt away.
The feeling of melting deeply into a wider range of people through that person The peace of mind that comes from being part of something bigger.

At the presentation of their departure, they both conveyed the sense that they have been living in peace of mind, embraced by a large bosom for a long time. I felt that there were people here and there, including community parents, who truly listened to and accepted the women as a whole.
The women were freed from the constraints and fixed ideas of "I have to do this" and "I have to be this way. Things that they had stubbornly held inside themselves that they could not say, that they did not want to be known, somehow became loose and open, and they opened themselves up to become people who can express themselves openly and lightly. Then, their true feelings will begin to peek out.





From March 24 to 28, the UNESCO-accredited educational program Gaia Youth was held in Suzuka, and Academy students joined its staff.
Here is how Takky, an Academy student who joined the staff, felt about the participants, who ranged in age from 20 to 27.

I can melt into any person.
I can communicate with anyone.
I want to become such a person.
And I want to be a person who can light up people' s lives brightly.
When they are with that person, they can see their true feelings in full.
And the things they were worried about become silly.
I want to be that kind of person.
I felt that way as I listened to everyone's stories.
The four days we spent together.
The honesty and genuineness warmed my heart again and again.
Everyone is poka-poka soaked.
Interacting with the Academy students on the tour.
I wanted to introduce them to everyone, my brothers and sisters.
Tomorrow is the last day.
From here, a new start for everyone.
Something is coming out of each and every one of us.
I felt that this kind of thing is like planting a seed.
Something that has been lying dormant inside each one of us will come out.
I don't know when it will sprout.
Is it more like watering than sowing seeds?
Some participants said it was warm, warm.
I wonder what they are feeling.
An attempt at Suzuka.
Like So-chan said, we are trying to do something here and now that has never been accomplished in the history of mankind.
Touching the spirit of this place, feeling something that has never been done before, each of us will be changed inside.
It's only been five days, but it's like we're moving forward.

So far, the community has prepared a place called the Academy.
The members of the community have embraced the Academy students.
This will not change in the future, but now a new trend is emerging.
The Academy students themselves have created a place called the Academy.
The Academy students create and embrace new Academy students.

On April 8, four new young people from Korea, Dajeong, Sujung, Minju, and Seulgi, will enter the Academy.
Then, one after another, from Japan and from around the world...

They will become "people who can melt into each other.
They become "people who can be welcomed".
The Academy has come into its own.
As we approach the fifth year of the Academy, the floodgates have been
opened.

Homeward Bound

The voice calling out, "Baaba,Baaba （Grandma, grandma ）," echoes in the background.
It was around 5 o'clock before dinner at the entrance of Suzuka Culture Station.
The person calling is Natsuki. He has been able to walk by himself for a few months now, and has started to speak a lot. As his name implies, he was born in July 2020, in the height of summer. He is half Japanese-Korean, born to Jin, a foreign exchange student from Korea, and Hiroya. His Korean name is Park Hahui, and when he sees Jin-chan, he runs staunchly to her and says "Omma.



Chie, as she is called. She is not a grandmother by blood, but she is the "Baaba"
who has been attending to Natsuki for the past year and a half. The only person who can be called "Natsuki" is "Chie".
At this time of the day, many small children and the elderly share dinner in the community dining room. Natsuki points to each person he passes or meets and calls them "Baaba,Baaba" or "Jiiji,Jiiji(grandpa, grandpa).
The people who are called are not a little bit pleased. Hi, Natsuki!" "Oh, Natsuki!" The dining table is lively and people naturally eat more and more, feeling his growth day by day.
I think that Natsuki probably says "Jiiji, Baaba" more often than any other words he utters.
I wonder how Chie, the elderly, and the surrounding community are reflected in Natsuki's eyes.



I got a message from my mother that she sent a package from Korea, but it hasn't arrived yet?"
Heung-mi came to the information desk at the Suzuka Culture Station and asked me.

It hasn't arrived yet. I'll call you when it arrives.
I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait..."

And then she leaves, mumbling like a small child.
Many people, not only Heung-mi, have their mail and packages delivered to this information center. It is a very comfortable system, as it is open from morning to night, so there is no need to specify the time, and no need to go home and wait only then.
It is a "friendly system" not only for the people who receive the packages but also for the people who deliver them, and it eliminates the need to make arrangements for re-delivery and the hassle of doing so. The home delivery man in charge of this area is getting to know the situation better and better, so he is very happy to help us out.
I delivered it to your house, but Mr. XX wasn't there, so I brought it here.
Sometimes, he even leaves a package for them.

Now, let's turn to Hung-mi.

A couple of days later, a big cardboard box was sent, so I called her and she came flying in.
Wow, it's here! It's here!
Satisfied, she unraveled the cardboard box.
"Everyone, would you like to see what's inside?"
with a broad smile, to Mie, Nana-chan, and me, who were just having a meeting at the information desk. It seemed that she was eager to show us inside.
I want to see, I want to see!
Mie and Nana-chan responded.
I'll show you then.
Heung-mi is very good at this.
This is dried egoma leaves, this is dried radish leaves, this is a towel, and oh, this is underwear-hahaha ・・・・."
One after another, he opened the bags one by one, showing the contents and explaining them carefully.
She even sends you things like that. That's your mother's love, that's your mother's love, too..."
Mie looks on happily as she says this over and over again.
After enjoying the viewing party with the four of us for a while,
Heung-mi is about to pack up her luggage and head for home. "Heung-mi, that weighs more than 20 kg. Do you want me to carry it to the car?
No, I'm totally fine. I'll carry it."
Heung-mi walked out with the cardboard box as if she was delighted with the weight of the box.




Next to the dining room is the community space Joy.
In one corner of the space, vegetables from SUZUKA Farm are delivered daily.
Since the winter vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, cabbage, daikon radish, and komatsuna began to arrive, the space has become more orderly and more attractive.

It is as if clear air is flowing in from the farm. Perhaps because of this, some people have said that the amount of vegetables they eat has been increasing.
One day, I happened to come across a moment when vegetables were being
delivered.

The man delivering them is Mr. Tsukioka from the farm.
One by one, he arranges the vegetables in a container. I was fascinated by his quiet but dignified appearance, as if he was creating a work of art.

I was surprised to see that the Chinese cabbage, cabbage, and daikon radish had been cleaned to the point that they looked as if they could be bitten right off, with the soil removed and outer leaves removed. I could see that a lot of time and effort had gone into the delivery of these vegetables.

In a sense, this is a community space for private use, so the quality of the appearance is not as high as that sold in supermarkets.
So why does Mr. Tsukioka go to such lengths to deliver them?




A childhood friend from my hometown occasionally posts photos and articles on SNS about the Tundra Swans that come to the Saigawa River in Azumino to overwinter. And just this time of year, they are beginning their return trip to the north.
They are headed for Siberia.
They breed there and return to Azumino in early winter with their extended family.
Everyone has probably seen migratory birds flying in a V formation at some point.

It is said to be the ultimate style to accomplish the great journey of thousands of kilometers in safety and comfort with friends. In the Beijing Olympics, there was a commentary on the skating pursuit that the air resistance of the rear runners is reduced and the lead runners take turns from time to time to reduce their workload.
Even though there are no rules and no duty system, or rather, because there is no such thing, they form a splendid V formation, and at every moment, they move according to air currents, air resistance, and the flapping of wings in front of them, taking appropriate turns as they all fly to their faraway destinations. In recent years, scientists have been trying to unravel this secret using the latest technology, and they are discovering a series of functions and relationships among the birds that are far beyond their imagination.
'Birds really understand each other and where their fellow birds are and what they are doing.
I'm deeply impressed by that more than anything."
said one scientist.

Although there is not much snow in Azumino and Matsumoto, the winters are extremely cold because of the high altitude. I wonder how cold Siberian winters are for the Tundra Swans that come to these areas to overwinter. And while humans rejoice in the warmth of spring, the swans fly away and return to Siberia to breed in the distance.




We don't have to expand our territory or go into battle at all costs just because it is extremely cold. Can' t we just go where we want to go, be warmly accepted there, and when the time comes, return home in peace and comfort while being spared and sent off?

Where is it that we want to return to?
Birds know where to go by instinct, and with their own abilities and the solidarity of their friends, they return to the place where they should go.
Where is the "home of the heart" to which we want to return?
How will they return there?

In November 2009, when I was working with scholars and researchers on the concept of the Suzuka Culture Station, which now houses Dining, Joy, and Information, I was told by Masaaki Naito, professor emeritus at Kyoto University, and Dr. Hahn of Germany, who visited Suzuka for the first time There is really nothing special about this area," he said. There are no outstanding cultural heritage sites, no scenic beauty, and no sophisticated streetscapes. If you want to build a new, attractive community, there are better places."
I remember receiving the comment, "If you want to build a new attractive community, there are better places.

It is true that there is little physical attraction here that would attract people, and I have always thought that it would be difficult to build a new attractiveness.
However, I think that now is the time to try to create a " home of the heart"
where everyone will want to return to.

The beautiful world where birds fly, shine, and play with their instincts as a matter of course.
If it were human beings with instinct and intelligence, we would fly more brilliantly and play more beautifully.
The world should be able to play more gracefully.
Surely that is the way it should be.
That too, with the joining together of ordinary people.

"Hey, Natsuki! Hahui!"

Central Green

During the New Year, a certain green crop suddenly becomes the star in the vegetable section　of markets, called "Mochi-na". What's interesting is that the label that used to say "komatsuna" is replaced by "mochina" only during these few days.
It seems that this way of eating started in the Owari area in the Edo period (1603-1868), and the origin of this way of eating was to "rise (mochi) the fame (na)".
Anyway, for three days of the New Year's holiday, SUZUKAFARM's packing and shipping place becomes the next dance floor after passing the baton from the bento shop's festive season. Here is Kayo's New Year's Day blog



When I arrived at the finishing area, Toshimi was opening the lock.
I went inside and asked her what she wanted to do.
Akosan is also coming.
Shall we start with "Mochina"?
As soon as packing mochina is ready for Max Value, a neighbor market, I'll bring them to there.
Let's do carrots, too.
Yamachan came.
He said, “I will be cleaning mochina from 7:00 until I go to” Karaoke.”
Toshiyuki and Takemichi started washing spinach in the snow.
They said that well water was warm.
Haruka, Teruko, Micchan, Aya, Fukakusa, and Takuya came one after another.
One after another.




On the second day of the New Year, we also had mochi pounding.
We took turns pounding the rice into seven mortars, and tasted the freshly made mochi right there. What a splurge!

On the 4th, after the first three days of the New Year, we managed to move at once for five families. After trying it out, I think "changing houses'' is more fitting than''moving ``...
It all started right before the New Year holidays.
・Toshiyuki moved to a new place.
・The Yosshi family moved into the vacant house.
From the morning of the 4th.
・Eri moved into the room where Yosshi and his family used to live before.
・And Takemichi moved into the vacant room.
From that afternoon.
・ Koji and Heungmi moved into the house where Takemichi used to live .
・Then I moved into Koji and Heungme’s former room.
・And then Takuya moved into my house.
It went smoothly as if we were writing in one stroke, but since there were seven houses in total, many people around us said they were unclear about what was going on no matter how many times we answered.
Although the distance is short because each house is located within 5 or 6 minutes walking distance from each other, I wondered how it was possible to move five houses in just one day, or in fact in a few hours. I thought again.

"Do you want to use this furniture?　I'll leave it here."
"I'll leave the refrigerator and washing machine here."
"I'll put the toaster, hot water pot, and fan back since they were there when we moved in."
Such exchanges went back and forth, and the number of things we had to carry decreased gradually.
Toshiyuki brought out the farm's two-ton truck, and young guys like Takemichi, Diego, and Ban, took care of moving things.
Takuya wasn't there that day, so they carried his belongings that he had already packed in his absence.
Moving to a new house or moving to a new place may seem like a big deal in one's life, but when it is done with such ease, it gives it a different flavor.
＜A very easy house change in a big family＞.
It is quite natural and reasonable to change one's place of residence or house according to one's own needs or changes in family structure at any given time.
However, if we had to live in each house until the end of each life because we spent half our lives building it, we would feel very cramped.

We sometimes use the expression "a company for people", when we describe the kind of relationship we are trying to build.
Even though we know enough in our minds that "people for the company" is not the goal, without realizing it, we sometimes put the cart before the horse.
In the same way, what would happen if we became "people for the house"?
A "house change" would be to replace the house with people that are more suitable for the current person and family.
I think a house is originally a "house for people".

Here is a typical urban area with not only houses, apartments, and condominiums, but also stores and commercial facilities. However, it is also a rare place where a five-minutes walk takes you to the open countryside stretching out in front of you..
For those who live in the area, it is a great place to take a walk or jog, and we are amazed by the growth of rice plants and soothed by the cool breeze coming from the fields.
More than ten years ago, Mr. Sugimoto, who was a city councilor at the time, told me, "When we were planning the urban development of Suzuka, we had a plan from the beginning to leave a 'central green' in the middle of the city".
I've heard this before. I wonder if the original idea was to create "a city for people".

In winter, some of the rice fields are usually growing vegetables such as "mochina," but most of the ones look as if they are sleeping, with only soil and a few grasses.
As I stared at the fields for a while, a number of scenes came to mind and then disappeared: millions of seedlings neatly planted on the surface of the water reflecting the clouds in the sky and mountains, a sea of green grass that provides a home for countless insects and birds, and swaying waves of rice-ears that even bring a savory smell.
At the same time, a curious feeling comes over me.
"What is the 'essential entity' of this rice field that shows so many different expressions?"
The fields seem to be empty and asleep, but as time goes by, they will reveal themselves in various ways. It changes and changes rapidly.
From nothing to something, from something to nothing, endlessly repeating...
It may just be that this is how it looks to me.



It may look like there is nothing, but in fact something is constantly flowing.
No matter how it appears, the ” rice field itself” is unchanging.
Reflecting back, I ask myself
・how I see "human beings" and the people in front of me on a daily basis, which may be the same thing.
・how I see "each person" as more diverse, more complex, more abundant, and more lovely than the fields and "the invisible entity" that lies beneath those appearances.
While reflecting on the fact that I'm always going left and right when I see the appearances...

When it comes to living or living "person to person".
I think it would be tasteless if we only exchanged information on the surface. I have done many such things.
However, in a family that is really close, I feel that only the " essence and essence" are exchanged.
Between two people who truly understand each other, entrust each other, love each other, and are loved by each other, there is no need to protect, decorate, make oneself look big, or shrink.
There is only essence and essence. We feel comfortable because we are completely at ease.
It's a world that has nothing to do with ・・・・, as if we' re getting a sense of it rather than a theory, as if nostalgia is seeping out from the core.

It's not just the three heroes, but we've also been educated from a young age to "rise our fame", and now we're sometimes fed up with the stubbornness of things that have been ingrained in us that we've added unnecessary things.
But lately, I've been thinking
"I don't have to compete with anyone. I don't even want to compete with anyone. I want to be a part of everyone."
I feel somewhat relieved to have found the core of myself.

Central Green

"A city, a company, a house for people" are also nice, but before that, I want to be a "person for people".

I live in a society that gently reminds me of this.

At dusk, a path of crows forms in the Suzuka sky.
Countless crows cross the same area one after another, from the sea in Shiroko to Kameyama.

There is no line in the sky, not even a single crow in charge of traffic control, but I am impressed by their accuracy, as if they are equipped with GPS.
The aerial "Crow Road" stands out against the background of the Suzuka peaks, which are covered in white due to a cold wave that is said to be once in a few years.




The end of the year is a time for making "osechi" ( a Japanese New Year's traditional dish ).
This year, we received orders for 360 sets from all over the world.
The community's family business, the "mother's lunch box," will be in full swing from the 28th, with young and old alike rushing in.

The members in charge of this year's lunchboxes began planning, prototyping, and tasting when the sound of cicadas began to fade. Putting our hearts into it...

I think it was around the time of the beginning of December when people were talking about the festive season, that Miyuki, who was looking at the food section of the community, murmured something to us.
“I wish I could deliver lunch boxes every day during the busy year-end season.”

The sale of bento boxes usually ends on December 26th or 27th, and the whole community, including all the bento shops, goes into full-scale preparation of the festive season. The kitchen and serving room are all transformed into a "festive" kitchen.

A regular customer who has been taking bento for a long time comes to the store and says, "Oh, I see, I'm sorry to hear about your bento”.
When I saw her disappointed, I thought that she must want a bento box for the year-end cleaning and New Year's preparation.
I had no choice but to say,
"I'll be preparing the osechi on the 31st. Please enjoy it.




It was after the 20th.
"I wish I could manage to make the year-end bento that Miyuki-san mentioned."
Out of nowhere, Mr. Nakai or Mr. Izumida started to say.
"Let's make it happen next year." Before I knew it, it had turned into,
"Can't we do something about it now?
Then everywhere in the bento company they murmured,
“We can do this, we can do that, we can do it," and so on.
It all came together in no time at all.
Today, the 31st, we decided to prepare not only the daily bento, but also New Year's Eve soba.


"I only can make osechi at the end of the year so that I can't even prepare the daily bento "
It was only in my mind that I had decided that.





Speaking of "murmur"...

On the 20th, Mommy Yoshiko of the community space JOY said,
"The refrigerator at JOY has been working for a long time, but it looks like it's about to run out of steam. ＜It would be nice if we could get a new one.>”

Every time it breaks down, Ichikawa-san, who is in charge of electricity, fixes it. Recently, Yoshiko-san emptied the showcase every day and used a hair dryer to melt the frost inside, saying that the defrosting function had stopped working.
Every day, Yoshiko emptied the showcase and melted the frost inside with a hair dryer, saying,
"Even though I defrost the showcase every day, it's getting harder and harder to keep it cool. I'd like to get a new one, but when I hear that they cost hundreds of thousands of yen, I think I'll let this one work a little harder."
Yoshiko continued・・・.

"But thanks to the showcase, we hardly use the refrigerator at home."
"I can just bring eggs from there to eat the next day."
"If I were to buy a hundred thousand yen refrigerator for myself, I would hesitate, but it's a refrigerator for a hundred people."
"Yeah, if you divide it by 100, it's only several thousand yen per person."
"・・・・"
"..."
On the 27th, a new baby arrived from Sendai in Tohoku.

Why do crows caw?
Because in the mountains,
there are seven cute little ones
"Kawaii, Kawaii"
The crows caw.
"Kawaii, Kawaii"
They caw
Let’s go to the old nest in the mountains and see.
Look at their round eyes.
They're pretty ones.


These are the words to the song "Seven Children," which is said to have been written by Ujo Noguchi.
I wonder how he looked at the crows.
And I wonder if he really went to visit crows' "old nests in the mountains"...
It was an inexplicable "relaxed view" that was very different from the images, videos, and information that we were chasing and processing in a flash.
.

"What about that?
When you wonder with your pure curiosities
It's like you want to stop and listen to what you're looking at.
It's the feeling of closeness that makes you want to stop and listen.

Our heartfelt festivities have been packed in boxes since yesterday.
and shipped all over Japan on the "osechi road" with the help of a delivery company.
And this morning, they are lined up at a bento store for people to come and pick them up.




Along with the daily bento and New Year's Eve bukkake soba.
A line from Mr. Izumida calling out, "Hurry up or We'll finish wrapping the festive boxes!
Nana is now running towards the bento shop.

The year 2021 is drawing to a close.

A Family Landscape...and More Than Family

Kazuki Sakai

My father, who is still working, has turned 90 years old.
He is the third generation of his family to run a small business that has been in business for 145 years, but as expected, he is going to close the company next spring, so a family meeting was called.

It was a weekday, but the train was unexpectedly crowded.
A group of people, probably on a late autumn vacation, were talking animatedly.
"・・・Please refrain from talking in a loud voice, as it may disturb other passengers.”
Timely? I couldn't help but chuckle at the timely in-car announcement.
An elderly couple in the back seat seemed to be in the middle of a trip to retrace their memories. All I could hear was the wife's voice, and the occasional exchange between the two of them didn't quite mesh.
"Darling, look! It's Mount Ontake."
"Oh!"
They seemed to be waiting for that moment, which was only visible for a few seconds, with pleasure.
"It's been decades. How nostalgic! I'm so happy just to see this view!"
" Yeah, yeah..."
As usual, the husband was a man of few words, but at this moment, they seemed to be breathing in harmony.



Looking up Mt. Jounen for the first time in two years, I walked home feeling a bit unsatisfied.
Oh well, it occurred to me that the peak should have been covered with snow at this time of year, as I had a childhood image in my mind. I wondered if it was due to something like global warming.
When I opened the side door of my parents’ house, I was greeted first by my brother, who was one step ahead of me.
My brother is two years older and works as a doctor in the north eastern part of Japan. He said that he had been working hard since the pandemic, but now that society was in a bit of a lull, he took the chance to take a week off.

When I was offering incense and souvenirs at the family Buddhist altar.
Mother called us from the kitchen,
"Come on, let's have lunch first."
My father also came back from his outing, and the four of us sat around the dinner table.
"What a shame to display such coffee cups! They are faded and dated ones that we've been using them since junior high school. You should throw them away."
My brother said, pointing to an old cupboard.
"Which one? Oh, they are valuable and so I can't just leave them. Why don't we still keep it?
My father responded.
That's why you're filling up the house with things you don't need and not getting rid of anything. ・・・・・"
My parents were not afraid of my brother's forceful argument. Listening to them in a daze, I thought to myself.
"It's been decades since our family of four has spent time together like this. My brother went to Sendai for university, and I went to Tokyo, and after that, we had parties at our home with each other's children during the Bon and New Year's holidays. However it might have been the first time since I was a child that it was just the four of us with my parents."

My brother and I have had no intention of becoming the fourth generation successor, and so we have been living away from home for a long time. As I spent a few days cleaning our home and sorting out the company, I learned that not only my mother's nephews and nieces have been very concerned about my parents and visited them frequently; they live neaby. But also judicial scriveners, tax accountants, legislators, traveling salesmen and many friends and neighbors continued to support them, .
I also got to see again many faces of my father and mother that I did not know at all, or rather could not have known, as a child. At the time, they were sad, heartbroken, and angry, but now everything has become funny, and the four of us laughed and laughed at .
However, there is still a lot of work to be done.



When I got back to Suzuka, I met Yuki Sakai and Sink Kudo, who came from Saihate Village for the community tour.
It was the first time I met both of them.
Sakai's last name is the same as mine, and our names are very similar, so I didn't feel like a stranger and started talking to him.
Then, I found out that Yuki's mother and my father's hometown were very close.
If we go back a few generations, we must be relatives.

When the interview between Mr. Sakai, Mr. Kudo, and Mr. Ono of the Suzuka community was released last month, I was strangely impressed by a passage that said, "The relationship between people in the As One community is like a family, or maybe more than a family.

What is a family?
Is the family the smallest unit of society, or does society change depending on what kind of family it is?
Even if one of the family members does something that is unacceptable to the rest of the world, it can be a bond that protects each other without blaming each other, saying that there must have been unavoidable reasons for doing so, or it can be a chain that binds each other, thinking that family should be like this.
Now, there are so many different types of families in the world today that it may be difficult to understand what they are originally.
And what does it mean to be more than a family?

After the tour of the Suzuka community, Sink said, "Everyone gets along really well. Though they are straightforward about what they're doing, they are in a very casual way."
I heard him say that.

Yesterday, the government announced that the entry of foreigners would be completely banned again, which had been eased since November 8. Ms. Jung-in, a student of ScienZ Academy from Korea, had been waiting to enter Japan to return to the Academy for a year because of this pandemic. She was scheduled to come to Japan on December 11 after going through the visa application procedures in a super express manner from the 8th, but that was also rejected by a touch. It's a pity, but we'll have to wait for the next chance.
On the news this morning, the manager of a construction company in Suzuka City said,
"This decision by the government is a blow. We accept technical interns from overseas and it's impossible for us to replace these valuable foreign workers in Japan. There will be cases where we cannot accept work."

"Why are we looking forward to Jung-in's return so much?"
In the corridor of our community hall called the Suzuka Culture Station, I was having such a thought about this, while looking a young child run into the chest of an Academy sister with saying "Onee-chan!(MY big sister)" and the Academy student looking at her with so much affection.

An As One Suzuka Community Introduction Video has been completed.
Subtitles are available in English, German, Korean, Portuguese and Japanese. (Chinese and French will be added in the future)

A brief presentation of the As One Network's urban community located in Suzuka Japan, from 3 points of view: a workplace that fulfills people, an economy of mutual gifting and a place for each person to grow as they are.

Please have a look.
https://youtu.be/ISw34Ud99Ek

Autumn deepened into winter, and the mornings and evenings are getting cold.
"Tea Time Concert 2015" was held on sunny and calm Saturday afternoon at Suzuka Culture Station, Here is open for city people and the duo has enjoyed playing twice a year. Ms.Sowa (piano) loves this grand piano very much and also she has a piano-class for aged beginners here twice a month

Harvest day of Green Soybeans!
They are well ripened native soybeans,Sweet and delicious!


See, Local Junior High School Students come!
The second year students learned observing the field of Suzuka Farm. They asked a lot how vegetables are growing and the way of maintain and some others.
This program has been started by a teacher. He lives near here and much interested in the process from uncultivated and ignored farmland to gradually developed farming field.