I live in a small town between Kyoto and Osaka prefectures.
Meeting senior citizens, who have lived here for a long time and may have many connections, is a good way to do research, I thought. So, I went to a nearby coffee shop and interviewed an old man.
The man was seventy three years old and had lived in this town for forty five years. When he moved here, there were a few houses, few people and the vast rice fields. There were about five-hundred students in this town who attended the same school that students from next town. As a result, the students had the chance to widen their circle of friends.
Helping each other in times of trouble was another way to start and strengthen relationships. My interviewee told me his experience about the time he lived at the lowlands where the flood would come every year, and he used to be evacuated to the houses of the family who lived in the highlands and spend some days there. The family welcomed him everytime. They have contact with each other to this day.
He said that he still makes new friendships. Comparing with the old times, there are many schools now and they build better, safer roads and buildings now. This made me wonder how townspeople get acquainted with new people these days?
He told to me about the poster and the label above. The above is advertising events held at the local nursing home. The under is the label of a local business and industry group(Sho-ko-kai). Anybody who has a company in this town must join it. He ran an electricity company as a member of the group until he retired and now he acts as the chief director of that Sho-ko-kai.
I make new friends when I attend events held in this town, and everytime we talk each other, we share our happiness or sadness, and sometimes we fight, he joked.
Hearing his comments, I remembered the times I received help from my neighboors and reconfirmed the Ninjyoo of my town is still here.
Ninjyoo means "humanitarian spirit", which we can find especially in the old part of Japan.
I feel I was lucky I could still feel my neighborhood's Ninjyoo through this interview (of course the old man who answerd my interview was nice!), even when people make fun of my hometown saying, "There is really nothing to enjoy around here, isn't there!"
My town is one of the places which appeared in this webpage as a sight of sakura.
http://www.tku.ac.jp/~juwat/photo5e.html
