Something That Recently Moved Me to Tears | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
2008.01.21
Happy New Year.
As Ms. Agawa has already mentioned in her previous Okashira Diary entry, every year, the SFC executive board has the honor of participating in the New Year's greeting exchange meeting of the local Uchikoshi-Endo Seibu Neighborhood Association. We gather around 8:50 a.m. on New Year's Day, so it's quite an undertaking. I also have a memory from one New Year's Day when snow was still on the ground. After picking up the former Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management, Mr. Kojima, at Shonandai Station, I slowed down for the traffic light near SFC, but the road was icy, and the brakes didn't work, causing the car to slip slowly. It has also become a tradition to tour the quiet, deserted campus after the New Year's greeting exchange and visit the Asama Shrine next to the junior and senior high schools. The clear blue sky and the silent, empty campus provide a wonderful setting to welcome the first day of the new year and reset one's mindset for the year ahead.
Now, regarding this entry's theme, "Something that recently moved me to tears," I find that my tear ducts seem to be getting looser every year, perhaps due to age (?). It's another one of my family's traditions for my siblings and I to gather in Tokyo for a New Year's party. A topic that always comes up during these gatherings is the "Hakone Ekiden." When we gather on January 2nd, the race inevitably becomes a topic of conversation, with comments like "such-and-such university was in first place when I left the house." Furthermore, my mother, a Keio fan, always chimes in with, "Aren't any Keio students participating?" I give a vague reply, something like, "Hmm, it seems difficult for the long-distance types." They did run in a commemorative race when the number of participating schools was increased, but that was quite a long time ago.
What always moves me when I watch is the sight of the runners striving with single-minded determination to "somehow connect the *tasuki* without breaking the chain." This year again, on the weekend after the race, there was a TV special on the most memorable moments. There was a scene where a runner, suffering from dehydration and barely conscious, staggered desperately toward the next runner and somehow managed to pass on the *tasuki* safely. I was deeply moved by that runner's incredible mental fortitude and dedication.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi, an emotion designer whom I once invited to speak in the "Multimedia Culture" class at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, explained this situation of being deeply moved using what he called the "Emotion Stock & Release Model." For example, when we sit still in a chair watching TV or a movie, emotions build up within us, and once they cross a certain threshold, they are released in the form of tears. In contrast, with something like a computer game, although you might feel a little something, you immediately press a button or hit a key, so the emotion is released right away instead of being stocked. The situation of sitting still and being engrossed in a dark movie theater is an efficient way to stock emotions.
As we welcome the new year, I feel that we, like the *ekiden* runners, must solemnly protect the SFC *tasuki* and pass it on to the next generation.
(Date Published: 2008/01/21)