Small Pleasures Amidst Self-Restraint | Ikuo Kaneko (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2008.03.06
On February 17, I ran the Tokyo Marathon. Last year was quite tough with freezing rain and a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, but this year the weather was good, and I was able to complete the 42.195 kilometers in 4 hours and 32 minutes, at the same pace as in my training. I was very satisfied with my performance. I ran through the heart of Tokyo with 30,000 other citizen runners, through places you can never normally run, like the Iidabashi intersection, Hibiya-dori Avenue, in front of the Wako building in Ginza 4-chome, and in front of the Kaminarimon Gate. This is one of the "great happinesses." In the process of training, there are several "small happinesses."
I'm not confident in my physical strength, as I often catch colds, and I'm not athletic. Therefore, I practice a lot before the main event. The tightrope walk of carving out practice time amidst a busy year-end schedule is, first of all, one small pleasure. At this time of year, pollen is flying around outdoors, so I practice exclusively inside a gym. I run on a treadmill, in place, by myself for over an hour. I even think to myself, "I'm such a geek." That feeling is a little fun.
I don't know if it's a "runner's high," but after running for over an hour, I start to feel good, forget I'm in a gym, and get a sensation of wandering through time and space. And above all, the shower afterward. These are also small, happy moments.
Children in Japan today are born and raised surrounded by an abundance of everything. They seem happy, but I wonder if they truly are. Because there are fewer children, they are quite spoiled by those around them. Whenever I see middle school students hanging out and eating cup ramen on the street in front of a convenience store near my house, I can't help but want to shout, "What will become of Japan's future?" This might sound like an old man's complaint, but in a world where you are free to do anything and have anything, isn't it difficult to find both great happiness and small happiness? I think it is precisely within self-restraint—suppressing other things you want to do as much as possible to run silently, alone, in the gym—that one can feel small happinesses.
(Posted: 2008/03/06)