What We Can Create for the Future in the Age of Pandemics

In 2020, the novel coronavirus fundamentally overturned our daily lives and values. By first attacking those who have been called vulnerable or minorities—such as the elderly, ethnic minorities, and people of color—the virus shed light on the dark side of what we call community. This social inequality linked up with the BLM movement in the United States, sparking a global movement. This is because violence and discrimination against African Americans stem from the same history of human exploitation: the slave trade and colonial rule.

Furthermore, when the cultural activities we had taken for granted came to a halt, Germany was the first to provide emergency support for artists. On March 23, following these words from Culture Minister Grütters, an emergency support package of 6 trillion yen for self-employed individuals, including artists, was announced: "Artists are now essential for life." The UK also took the step of injecting its first arts relief fund of 21.6 billion yen on March 24. In Japan, it was finally on July 6 that the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced support measures. Although a large sum of 56 billion yen was prepared, the complexity of the application process and its poor usability could hardly be described as being from the perspective of those involved.

These social issues and differences in awareness were not created by COVID-19. What has been cultivated throughout history has become manifest through this pandemic.  

And throughout this long history, viruses have attacked humans many times, and people have sought ways to coexist with them. Both humans and viruses are part of nature. Coexistence with viruses has given birth to a spirit of human resilience and new cultures.  

My specialty is 19th-century British culture, but the 19th century is not disconnected from the present, and there is much that we in Japan can learn from British history. And the very fact that we are living here and now means we are inheriting the past and creating history for the world. Precisely because we are in an age of pandemics, there seems to be much that we can leave behind for the future.