|
|
|
|
Into the city
A typical city street in Urawa City. Where would you begin to search for wisdom? 00.01.05/ Temperature: 4C/ Weather: Partly cloudy/ Wind Direction: NW
Start: Kuki City 36 03 46 N 139 39 34 E
Destination: Minami Urawa, 35 50 05 N 139 39 25 E
Distance Traveled: 28.5 kmLeaving Kuki I have passed into the city. The city has no particular name but it is an intricate maze of paved roads, train and subway stations, convenience stores, tall buildings, apartments and people. I wonder how far south of Tokyo it extends. After close to four months of searching and interviewing for wisdom primarily in the countryside, today I was challenged with terms defined by the city.
At different times throughout this trip, I have been surrounded by the cut stems of harvested rice paddies, various signs of country living, or the heavy snowfall of Japan's snow country. Today car dealerships, family restaurants, convenience stores, small factories and four lanes of traffic surrounded me. During much of my journey I could count the number of cars which passed as well as the number of people that I encountered. Today so many cars passed me per second that I couldn't even begin to count. So many people crossed my path that it was difficult to decide whom to talk with.
Since departing from Shiretoko it has been quite easy to converse with people. On many occasions, as I approached people along the way, first our eyes would meet. A curiosity would be created between us. "What is this person up to?" we would think in silence. A grin, smile or hint of interest would appear on both of our faces and the space for a conversation to happen would be created. This has been almost a sure way to learn about people and the environments in which they live. If it didn't a simple "hello" was sure to spark up something.
With their faces glued to their newest favorite magazines not too many convenient store customers seemed interested in conversing with me. Walking through the city today, I became slightly nervous about whether or not this will continue until I arrive in Tokyo. I stopped in front of a convenience store hoping to spark up a conversation about city living. Several attempts made me realize that eye contact was difficult to establish. Attempting to make eye contact the first two times, my potential interviewees didn't even raise an eyebrow. The few times I did make eye contact the curiosity of "What is this person up to?" was even harder to establish. Even my attempts starting with "hello" ended with little more than silence.
The few people that have been kind enough to lend me some of their time, seem to be very busy. It took some persuasion to get the center manager at the Kuki Clean Center to agree to a ten minute tour. The manager at 7-11 hesitantly came out of the back room to share a few minutes with me.
Cars speed through yellow lights, pedestrians walk briskly on their toes to pass through the flashing cross-walk lights. Everybody is speeding toward some larger objective of the day, which seems to extinguish the curiosity which has been necessary for me to establish conversing relations with people.
Discovering the objectives which seemingly drive individuals to lose interest in their surroundings will prove to be a challenge. I having feeling that it is here where we may discover more about the way people live in the city and what wisdom the city has to offer our journey.
Recycle shops, industrial waste recycling centers, and the masses of people in the city give me hope that discoveries lie ahead. However, finding what is clever in city living, then finding someone to share his time with me may not be so easy.
Do any of you have any suggestions about how I might catch people long enough to learn more about what wisdom they might have?
Greg
to Top News Page of Wisdom
< >
Copyright World School Network & ECO-CLUB, 1998-2000. No reproduction or republication without written permission.
Send feedback to info@wschool.net
