The Season of Snow | Toshiko Hirota, Administrative Director, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC)
January 7, 2020
A year has passed since I was appointed Administrative Director of the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). The Tallow Tree, which was not at its best last season due to salt damage from a typhoon, has turned beautiful colors this autumn, and I have enjoyed the gradation of the autumn leaves on the Tallow Slope as they changed from green to yellow and then to red day by day.
This is my second time working at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). Previously, I worked at the Media Center from 1996 to 2000. That was in the early days of the internet, still the era of UNIX workstations. One day, Professor Murai came by, quickly typed some commands into a workstation, and said, "Look, this is the OPAC for UC Berkeley," as he showed me how to search their collection. That was my first encounter with the internet. I remember being very impressed, as at that time, the only way to search the collection of an overseas library was to inquire directly by letter.
There is a scene at SFC that I remember whenever winter comes. It was probably January 8, 1998. It was the first workday of the new year, and while I was sorting through a large amount of mail that had arrived during the break, I noticed it was snowing outside. The snow showed no signs of stopping, and by the end of the workday at 5:30 p.m., a considerable amount had accumulated on the roads. Although I made it to the bus terminal, the bus lane was filled with an endless line of private cars. Some had slipped and were stuck, and it didn't seem like the bus would be arriving anytime soon. I temporarily gave up on going home and started back to the Media Center, but a colleague said they were going to walk to Shonandai Station. After seeing my colleague off, I returned to the Media Center. However, it turned out that the Odakyu Line was completely suspended due to an overhead wire accident caused by the heavy snow, and faculty, staff, and students who had lost their means of getting home began returning to campus on foot one after another. (At that time, the Sotetsu Izumino Line had not yet opened; the section between Izumino-chuo and Shonandai would open in March of the following year, 1999.) The campus was filled with students, faculty, and staff who had given up on returning home. In the main building, the campus Administrative Director gave instructions to procure food, and food and cold-weather gear stored by the university were distributed. Heaters were turned on in all facilities, and in every classroom, students were sleeping on makeshift beds made of desks pushed together. I also remember sleeping on cardboard laid out on the floor of the Media Center's reading room. The next morning was crisp, cold, and clear. From early in the morning, the staff who had stayed overnight all pitched in to shovel snow, working up a pleasant sweat. It is a powerful memory from my time at SFC.
Looking back, I think that although web services had already started at that time, there was very little useful information content available. Today, we can get real-time weather information and train service status online, but back then, we had no such means. So, we would find ourselves in a heavy snowstorm and only learn that the trains were not running after walking all the way to the station.
These days, I am reminded once again of the importance of being prepared on a daily basis to take appropriate action in the event of a disaster, while also remembering the hardships of those who came before us.