A MOVE TO DOMESTIC IMMIGRATION
国内移住のすすめ
In a quest for a newer and better world, many Japanses people once immigrated to the north-eastern part of China, Brazil and other Latin American countries. Of these ambitious immigrants, a few of them, as represented by Peruvian President Mr. Alberto Fujimori and his family, have achieved great success as a result of the continued efforts of many generations. Many other immigrants, on the other hand, suffered from various hardships in countries foreign to them. Particularly miserable were those who moved to the north-eastern part of China (Manchuria). Toward the end of World War II, these people were caught up in the warfare and were made to face a tragic destiny. After the end of the Second World War, people living in various parts of Japan started to move to Tokyo. This move, which took place in concert with the so-called Japanese miracle of industrial development, could be described as a racial migration. Needless to say, this move caused a variety of social problems, such as overpopulation in the cities and depopulation in the rural areas, as well as nation-wide environmental destruction. Currently, it is said that approximately 40 million people (or one-third of Japan’s total population) live in Tokyo and its surrounding vicinity. More than 30 years ago, when I had to leave Tokyo after completing my university studies, I experienced a vague feeling of lonliness since I felt as if I had “fallen from grace.” These days, however, I feel rather disgusted whenever I visit Tokyo on business trips. Tokyo no longer seems to be a place for people to live now. I was recently transferred to a local city for the first time in my career. I now work in Okazaki, the city known as the site of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, first castle. Okazaki is a beautiful city as clean rivers like the Yahagi and Oto flow through the middle of the city, and the verdant mountains of the Mikawa region rise from the city’s outskirts. The residents enjoy the delicacies from both the sea and mountains because Okazaki is close to both. The prices are also relatively inexpensive. What I admire most about Okazaki is that the people are friendly and warmhearted. Before I moved to Okazaki, some of my friends had expressed concerns about my new post being a little remote. As I found out, however, Okazaki is no more than 25 minutes away from Nagoya by express train. In the mountains next to Okazaki is the town of Nukata. It is a rural community that is even more attractive than Okazaki. Sorrounded by montains, Nukata is blessed rich natural offerings. On summer nights fireflies fly over limpid streams. I recently had an opportunity to talk with the principal of an elementary school located in the back of this town. There are only 12 students with 8 teachers at his school. What a comfortable and relaxing education! In Nukata, the residents are free from complicated legal procedures pertaining to housing construction. There are no“urbanization areas”or“urbanization-controlled areas”within the town’s borders; the whole town is a “free costruction area.” The land prices are cheep as a matter of course. It is surprising that there exists such a Shangli-La in the neigborhood of metropolitan Nagoya. Some people may insist that they still prefer big cities. Even if they want to go to operas or go shoping at nice department stoes, this does not pose any problem whatsoever; they can just take a short ride by train or car. When it comes to employment and business operations, the rapid expansion of the internet now enables us to work at home, overcoming the inconveniences associated with living way from urban business centers. I now understand that there are real estate agents specialing in houses and properties locted in rural areas, and even volunteer groups which encourage people to relocate to the countryside. If the“U turn”phenomenon signifies the movement of those who give up their lives in the big cities to go back the hometowns where they were born and grew up, the movement of people from the city to the countryside in search for a new life may then be described as “domestic immigration.” The 21st century will certainly be the age of decentralization and revitalization of local areas. This is why I recommend that more people practice domestic immigration. Shigenobu Takagi General Director Nishi-Mikawa Regional Office Aichi Prefectural Government |
かつて多くの日本人が、新天地を求めて中国東北地方や、ブラジルを始めとする南米各国に移住した。これらの中には、ペルーのフジモリ大統領の例を示すまでもなく、数世代で成功した家族もあるが、かたや辛酸を嘗めた人々も少なくない。とりわけ、中国東北地方（満州）に渡った人々は戦乱の嵐に巻き込まれて悲惨な運命をたどることともなった。
第二次世界大戦後、いわゆる工業化の進展の中で、地方の人々は東京を始めとする大都会へと移動した。これは、さながら民族の大移動の如くであった。
この結果、過疎過密や環境破壊を始めとする種々の社会問題が発生したことは、今更言うまでもない。
首都圏には、今や何と日本の人口の１／３に相当する４０００万人近くが居住するという。
私は、３０数年前、学業をを終えて東京を離れることになったとき、「自分もこれで都落ちか」と一抹の寂しさを感じたものだが、このごろでは上京の機会がある度に、一体これが人間の住む所か、と嫌悪さえおぼえたりする。
ところで、最近、私ははじめての地方都市転勤を経験した。将軍・徳川家康の最初の居城があったことで有名な岡崎市である。市の中心部を矢作川や乙川などが流れ、周囲には三河の山裾が迫り、とても美しい街だ。海や山に近いので、新鮮な山海の幸を味わうことができる。物価も比較的安いし、そして何よりも人情が厚い。幾人かの友人が、私の任地が若干遠くなることを心配してくれたのだが、何のことはない、名古屋から特急電車で僅かに２５分だ。
岡崎の隣には額田という山あいの町がある。ここがまたすばらしい。山々に囲まれ、豊かな自然に恵まれており、夏には清流にホタルが舞う。先日も、この町の奥にある小学校の校長先生と話をしたのだが、児童数が１２人に対して先生は８人だという。何という贅沢な教育だろう。
この町は、「市街化区域」とか「市街化調整区域」といった規制のない「白地地域」なので、建築について法規制面での煩わしさが少ない。もちろん、土地の値段も安い。大都市の近くにこうした桃源郷があるのだ。
でも、やっぱり都会のほうがいいと人は言うかもしれない。オペラを見たいとか、一流の百貨店で買い物がしたいというのなら、ちょっと都会へ足をのばせばいいのではないか。
それに、雇用やビジネスの面でも、近年のインターネットの普及は、在宅勤務を可能とし、距離による障害を克服しようとしている。また、昨今では、田舎の物件を専門に取り扱う不動産業者や、田舎暮らしを奨励するボランティア・グループまであると聞く。
田舎で生まれ育った人々が都会暮らしを断念して故郷に戻ってくることを｢Ｕターン｣現象と呼ぶようだが、都市出身者が新生活を求めて田舎に移り住むことは「国内移住」とでも呼べばいいのだろうか。
２１世紀には確実に「地方の時代」が到来する。これからは是非「国内移住」をすすめたいものだ。
高木 繁伎
元愛知県 西三河事務所 所長
２１世紀の足音
The 21st century is only several hundred days away. We can even hear its approaching footsteps. What kind of age will the 21st century be? It is hard to forecast the future, but it is fun to fully exercise one’s imagination.
In order to forecast the future, it is always a good idea to look back upon the past. What kind of age has the 20th century been? Needless to say, the passing century has been an era of remarkable progress in science and technology, covering such areas as movies, automobiles, aircraft, space development, nuclear energy, genetic engineering, computers and many others. Who at the end of the 19th century could have forecasted today’s achievements? The pace of development has been particularly rapid in the latter half of this century. To offer an example from my own past, there used to be a “telephone room” in my house when I was a child. I remember a solemn-looking telephone contained in a wooden box that was fixed to the wall. In those days, the telephone was a luxury limited only to families with a certain degree of affluence. How about today? Even high schools students carry mobile phones ? today, telephones and people move together.
The developments in the aerospace industry have been even more remarkable. It was in 1903 that the Right Brothers, pursuing their dream of flying like a bird, succeeded in staying aloft several meters above ground level. 66 years after the Right Brothers’ first flight, in 1969, astronauts aboard the U.S. space ship Apollo 11 made humankind’s first landing on the surface of the moon.
In 1944, the world’s first computer “MARK I” was developed in the U.S. Today, I have the impression that the world is operated by computers, and I am a little apprehensive about what will happen to the world in the 21st century if science and technology keep on progressing at their current speed.
There are, however, some certain areas in which progress is at a deadlock. Remarkable achievements are mostly limited to natural and physical sciences, while which science seems to be lagging behind. Politics and economics are a good example. In 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the economic theory based upon marxism collapsed, but this did not necessarily mean victory for the capitalist schools of economics. Many economists lost their confidence, and they do not seem to have found a new direction to follow.
I even have an impression that in the field of philosophy little has changed since the time of Socrates and Aristotle, and Confucius and Mencius as well.
I am not at all sure whether or not the 20th century scientific and technological achievements have made the human race happy. What is clear to me is that some achievements have made us happy, and others unhappy. Just think about how the development of new weapons has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of our fellow humans. In addition, we still suffer from industrial pollution, traffic accidents, and ever on-going destruction of the environment. Indeed, progress in science and technology has always served as a double-edged sword to us.
There are mounting problems we must solve before drawing a blue print for the 21st century.
First of all, we have to establish a system which will prevent any further destruction of the global environment. Maximum efforts must be rendered, too, to recover what has been already destroyed.
Our primary task in the 21st century, therefore, is to see that people all over the world join together, mobilizing all their knowledge from not only physical and natural sciences but from social and humane sciences as well, in order to ensure that the human race may continue sustainable development into the future.
It is my hope that the footsteps of the 21st century are not made by those of a devil, but of a god of supreme bliss. I also hope that they are not headed toward despair, but toward hope and possibility.
２１世紀は、あと数百日余の目前に迫った。足音が聞こえそうだ。２１世紀は、どんな時代になるのだろうか。未来を予測することは難しいが、想像することは楽しい。
未来を予測するためには、まず過去を振り返ってみるのがよい。２０世紀は、どんな時代だったか。言うまでもなく、科学技術が驚異的な進歩を遂げた。映画、自動車、飛行機、宇宙開発、原子力、遺伝子工学、コンピュータ等々、１９世紀末に誰が今日の状況を予測しえたか。とりわけ、後の半世紀間での進歩のスピードはすざましいものだった。身近なところで、技術の進歩による生活の変化を思い出してみたい。子供のころ私の家には電話室というものがあった。木製の箱に入った電話機が壁に固定されていたものだ。電話は、ある程度裕福な家庭の持ち物でもあった。今日はどうだ。学生までが携帯電話なるものを持ち、電話が人とともに移動している。
航空、宇宙の世界はどうか。鳥のように空を飛びたいとの夢を追いかけて、ライト兄弟が地上からわずか数メートルの所を滑空することに成功したのが１９０３年のことだったのに、それから６６年後の１９６９年には、アポロ１１号が人類初の月面着陸に成功している。
１９４４年には、アメリカでコンピュータの１号機「ＭＡＲＫ−Ｉ」が開発されたが、今では、世界はさながらコンピュータで動いているではないか。こんなスピードで、この先も科学技術が進んだら、２１世紀は一体どうなるのだろう。
ところで、進歩が行き詰まったものもある。科学が進んだというが、それは自然科学の分野であって、社会科学はそれに追随していないかもしれない。例えば、政治学や経済学はどうか。１９８９年のベルリンの壁の崩壊とともにマルクス主義経済学も崩れ去った。かと言って、近代経済学が勝利したわけでもないと言われている。経済学者たちの多くが自信を喪失し、新しい方向さえ見えていない。
更に、人文科学の分野に至っては、ソクラテスやアリストテレス、孔子や孟子の時代からほとんど変わっていないものもある。
ところで、２０世紀の科学技術の進歩が人類を幸せにしたかどうかは、今更解説するまでもない。結論は、幸せにした面もあれば、不幸にした面もあるということだ。中でも、兵器の開発が何千万人、いや億を超えるであろう人類同胞を殺戮するすることになったかを考えてみるがいい。また、公害、交通事故、地球環境の破壊等々、科学技術の進歩はいつの場合にも両刃の剣だった。
２１世紀はどうなるかを考える前に、解決しなければならない課題が多い。
まず、これ以上に地球環境を破壊しないようなシステムが構築されることだ。また、既に破壊したものの修復についても可能なかぎり努力されなければならない。
この意味で、２１世紀は自然科学のみならず、社会科学、人文科学の全ての分野にわたり人類の英知を結集して、地球および人類社会を今後とも持続可能にすることが先決だ。
２１世紀の足音は、悪魔のものではなく、至福の神のものであってほしい。また、絶望に向かってのものではなく、希望と可能性に向かってのものであるように祈りたい。
Shigenobu Takagi
General Director
Nishi-Mikawa Regional Office
Aichi Prefectural Government
元愛知県西三河事務所長
高木繁伎
