Seeing, but Not Seeing | Akira Wakita, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
October 13, 2020
At SFC, there is a program called GIGA . It is a program where students can earn all the credits required for graduation in English, and this year marks its 10th anniversary, having been established at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies in 2011. It has gradually grown in scale, expanding to the Faculty of Policy Management in 2015. Initially, the number of courses was small, which was an inconvenience for the students, but now many classes are offered within the GIGA framework. Faculty members are required to teach at least one course in English as a GIGA course.
This is a bit of a digression, but recently, the government has given the same four letters, GIGA, to an ICT education project. It's a bit unsettling. The graduate school design program I belong to is called XD (X-Design), but right after it was created in 2007, organizations with strikingly similar names were established one after another at other art universities and advertising agencies. I suppose this kind of thing happens everywhere. I think it's a matter of good sense and pride.
Getting back to the story, at the beginning of October, there was an online session for the parents of GIGA program students. The schedule was an opening address from the dean, a detailed explanation by the faculty and staff in charge of international affairs, and then a Q&A session. It happened to be a day I was working on campus, so I decided to buy lunch at Subway 30 minutes before the session started. While waiting for my order, Professor Kato, the Dean of the Graduate School, arrived and got in line for a sandwich. As we talked about university administration, my focus shifted from my sandwich to our conversation, and I paid without really thinking about it.
Our offices are on the same floor, so as we were walking and talking, I suddenly felt a heavy thud and my vision went completely red. I hadn't noticed the underside of the spiral staircase in front of me and had hit my forehead on the sharp edge of a step. It didn't hurt that much, but I was surprised by the incredible amount of bleeding. It was a shocking amount. The kind Professor Kato escorted me directly to the health center.
"This will need stitches," they said, and gave me first aid to stop the bleeding. Since the wound was above my forehead, the bandage wasn't wrapped around my head horizontally, but rather vertically, circling from top to bottom. I must have looked utterly pathetic. Professor Kato looked concerned, but he couldn't hold back his laughter. Seeing his expression, a mixture of concern and amusement, greatly eased my own worries.
The GIGA session for parents was about to start. I had no choice but to give the opening address looking this pathetic. First, I returned to the dean's office to rest. I was a little dizzy, and as I was cooling my head, the start time passed in a flash. When I opened the online streaming page, Dean Tsuchiya was giving his address as the Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management. I could easily imagine the stir it would cause if I turned my camera on, so I decided to join with it off.
When it was my turn to speak, I couldn't very well keep my video off, so I turned on my camera. The moment I did, a grid of surprised faces filled the Zoom screen. I delivered my message briefly and left the Zoom call. I was driven to the hospital in the dean's secretary's lovely car. The silver lining was that the staircase hadn't hit my eye.
People have blind spots. Every car has blind spots, so you must not forget to check the rearview and side mirrors, and also to turn your head and look for yourself. People also have physiological blind spots (scotomas). Something that was visible before can become invisible in certain situations, so it's necessary to carefully check the surrounding context. Some people may have visual field defects. A scene that was once visible can become invisible over time due to illness or disability. But the frightening thing is, it's rare for the person themselves to notice this defect.
In a psychological sense as well, blind spots, scotomas, and visual field defects can happen to anyone. Bundles of light may indeed reach the retina, but they may not rise to the level of consciousness, or their true nature may not be grasped due to a lack of knowledge or experience. We see, and yet we do not see.