June 19, 2020
Almost a month blank since last time. This should not be. From now, I will try to write and update my blog more frequently, such as once per week, even though it can be a short sentence. I think it should be a blog, but otherwise no one will see a minor site like ours. I think so in my mind, but I haven't had any success. I swear to my heart that I will make a fresh start.
Because of Covid-19, I've been living here in my local town these three months now. It is Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture in Japan. It takes less than an hour from the center of Tokyo, so I can go by train on either Shinjuku or Ikebukuro very soon, but there is no such motivation. Now that it's almost commonplace to use the web even at work meetings, I don't have no energy to get on the train by preparing myself.
The risk of infection remains, but it's better to save time and money than that. If you spend more time in your hometown, you can take a closer look at the nearby shopping streets that you would not normally care about. Now that we have a small and cool restaurant, or let's buy homemade tofu from another store, and the dumplings there are so popular that we can wait in line. We can spare the time for such "neighborhood visits". Therefore, even if the virus infection ends, it is almost certain that remote work will continue to take hold.
Most of the desk workers don't want to go back to the “old-fashioned” lifestyle of commuting to work every morning in a crowded train and dragging their tired bodies home. I feel that I am tired of living in the city at the same time, as I feel as if I am comfortable with the local life I wrote above. What is the added value of the "city" where we have to go out from home and sometimes being overworked? That question is sincerely asked now.
In old days, people who wanted to meet, things to buy, information to know were all in the city because all of them were in the city. People who want to meet now is available on the web. What you want to buy can be bought online. The information you want to know can also be searched on the WEB. There is no obvious added value that makes the city continue to exist as a city. If it remains at the end, the city will be as a place for socializing. To put it more simply, a city for drinking, eating and enjoying. But that's because the workplace is right there. If you work away from the city, you will naturally eat less often in the city. If the frequency decreases, the number of stores will decrease, and the number of people who work there will inevitably decrease. If the working population declines day and night, Tokyo’s overcrowding will naturally disappear in the near future. How much work there is the reason for being a big city. Tokyo and Osaka (at least for desk workers) are no longer an inevitable workplace.
But if so, each “local” must instead become more lively and attractive day and night. How can we recreate a new “local” with a different charm than the city? I would like to discuss it in detail next time.