Moon

2024/07/29

Masahiko Kuzuoka

Director of Tsukishima Tower Clinic, 1983 Medicine

It has already been 20 years since I opened my practice in Tsukishima. Having been a hospital doctor in surgery, I was past my mid-40s and felt that I wanted to move from a position of treating cancer to one of discovering as many cancer patients as possible. The first year I opened was exactly the year of the Sumiyoshi Shrine Grand Festival, held once every three years. In the sweltering midsummer heat, residents from each neighborhood association in Tsukuda and Tsukishima carried portable shrines (mikoshi) while chanting, and people around them encouraged them by splashing water on them—it was a grand sight. Thanks to that, on the Monday after the festival, my clinic, which had been quiet shortly after opening, was bustling with people who had been injured or felt unwell during the festival.

Monjayaki is famous in Tsukishima, but I only go about once a year. The length of the lines varies by shop, but I wonder if there is really that much of a difference? Personally, I prefer shops where the staff cooks quickly for you rather than cooking it myself. Currently, high-rise condominiums are being built one after another in Tsukishima due to redevelopment, but on the other hand, it is sad to see the old townscape gradually disappearing.

Hizuki Isogai

Proprietor of Shimizu Kobundo Shobo Co., Ltd., Lecturer at Prefectural University of Hiroshima Graduate School of Business Administration, 2004 Policy Management, 2007 Graduate School of Media and Governance Master's

During my student days, I frequently visited Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic. At the time, I was aspiring to be a cultural anthropologist and stayed in a village of about 300 people, spending a lot of time with my Inuit friends who are hunter-gatherers.

One day in late summer, I went hunting with my host family. While not quite the midnight sun, the days are long in the high north, and we would chase beluga whales and seals in a small boat from morning until night. In a world as transparent as the edge of the horizon, the sun would hide horizontally, and the moonlight would begin to illuminate the waves.

The indigenous Inuit, who have faced a harsh natural environment, have fostered a unique view of nature. Many myths regarding animals, the sea, and the sun exist and have been passed down. Speaking of the moon, there is a god named Igaluk, and they told me stories they heard from their ancestors on the way back from hunting.

While listening to such stories, I also talked about the origin of my own name. My name is related to the sun and the moon, which resonated with their legends. Gratefully, many people accepted me with a sense of familiarity just because of my name, and I felt thankful to my parents for naming me so.

Satoru Makino

Representative of ERC Institute, 2009 Economics

Do you know the meaning behind the design of the Singapore national flag?

Red symbolizes universal brotherhood and equality, while white symbolizes everlasting purity and virtue. The five stars represent the ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality.

The moon is expressed as a symbol connecting the past, present, and future. From darkness (the new moon), it gradually increases in light to reach the full moon. Similarly, Singapore has achieved rapid economic growth since independence, but it continues to progress every day toward the "full moon" to achieve further development and its five ideals.

I like this concept very much. This is because holding onto goals and ideals gives energy to daily life, allowing one to positively view the difficulties and failures that occur as valuable experiences for fulfilling those ideals.

It is easier said than done. In fact, there are times when I lose heart and shut myself away for a few days, but by remembering my goals and ideals each time, I have managed to get by happily, and I believe I can continue to do so.

Yoko Maruyama

Special Researcher at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Music, 2009 Letters, 2011 Letters Master's

The keyword is "Moon." I groaned when asked to write a piece about Beethoven's "Moonlight." This is a common nickname that spread because the writer Rellstab associated the first movement with Lake Lucerne under the moonlight; it has nothing to do with the composer. From the ferocious final movement, doesn't one hear a torrential rain striking the earth rather than droplets of light spilled by a silver moon?

However, Beethoven would likely have jumped at a scientific achievement like the moon landing. After all, one can imagine him with his eyes sparkling like a boy's at unknown technology.

Pianos in Vienna at the time the "Moonlight" was composed generally did not have pedals; knee levers served the role of pedals. As evidence, there are no instructions for "pedal" in the "Moonlight." Later, the composer acquired a piano from the Erard company in Paris, which had pedals and allowed for rich resonance and wide dynamic changes. The "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" sonatas born after that feature relentless pedal instructions and powerful acoustics. He was a man who jumped at the latest device models.

Mr. Beethoven, how about a trip to the moon? If music could be heard in space, what kind of piece would you compose?