Purple Noon | Hiroyuki Ishida, Dean of the Graduate School of Health Management

In a back alley just off the coast of Zushi, there is a small theater called "Cinema Amigo" that is known to those in the know. It has only about ten seats and an attached cafe. It feels like a movie theater version of a jazz cafe, but the film selection is sophisticated, showing independent films from around the world as well as so-called mini-theater films. For someone like me who cannot cater to Hollywood movies, this theater is a precious existence. My family is exasperated, saying, "You don't have to go all the way to Zushi," but the travel doesn't bother me at all, likely because the sea of Zushi is a place filled with my childhood memories. My maternal grandfather, who studied at Keio University affiliated schools from childhood and was a typical Taisho-era mambo (modern boy), was a man who loved Western culture. Clinging to him, I was given many experiences from a young age. One of those memories is the "Nagisa Hotel." Built along the Zushi coast during the Taisho era, the hotel was a stylish Western-style classic building known to be loved by members of the Imperial Family. Zushi Trip "Zushi Nagisa Hotel Site"

My grandfather, who used this hotel as his regular lodging like a villa, often took me, who loved fishing, out to the sea in Zushi. At the Abuzuri breakwater, where the Sailing Team's training camp is currently located, and the rocky areas of Shibazaki, we caught not only flatheads and greenlings but occasionally octopuses. When I proudly showed off my catch, the elderly manager and his wife would always smile and kindly praise me, saying, "Young master, you caught a lot!" The Nagisa Hotel was filled with such heartwarming memories, but unfortunately, it went out of business, and now there is no trace of the building. I later learned that Shizuka Ijuin also stayed in a room at this hotel as a boarder during his struggling period before his debut as a writer, thanks to the manager's kindness. I will leave the details to his book "Nagisa Hotel," but it is clear that it was because of that manager and his wife that the "writer" Shizuka Ijuin was born. Although the time spent at the Nagisa Hotel probably overlapped, I am still bad at writing, and keeping a diary has been my great enemy since my days at the Yochisha Elementary School. It seems that even the manager's warmth couldn't help with this.

Now, let's return to the Zushi coast. This coast is known for having the strictest regulations in Japan regarding eating, drinking, BBQ, speaker volume, etc., but it remains a streetscape? of "Umi-no-ie" (beach huts), which is a culture unique to our country, and it feels worlds apart from the scenery seen on the coasts of Southern Europe. Recently, I heard that the city of Nice in Southern France has attracted attention as a filming location for the Netflix romance documentary "Offline Love," leading to a surge in young Japanese people visiting the area. Compared to the Japanese coastline lined with beach huts, the coastline of Nice, the Promenade des Anglais, is so beautiful that one is likely driven by an impulse to see it with their own eyes. While Nice is certainly a wonderful city, the true essence of Southern France lies in the small towns scattered along the coastline. If you are planning to visit Southern France, I highly recommend taking the train that runs along the sea from Nice. The local train toward the Italian border, bound for Ventimiglia, passes through towns such as Villefranche-sur-Mer, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Roquebrune Cap Martin, and Menton before crossing the border into Italy. In each of these towns, there are traces of artists and intellectuals who loved Southern France, and there are also small but uniquely charming beaches. Not unlike Alain Delon's final line in "Purple Noon" (directed by René Clément, 1960), one can spend a blissful time muttering "meilleur..." (the best...) and wanting to bask in the sun forever.

Roquebrune Cap Martin is a particularly wonderful town. When you get off at the unmanned station on the mountain side, there are stairs leading up the cliff, and from there, you just keep climbing. After walking for 30 minutes, you arrive at the medieval village of Roquebrune, which seems to cling to the cliff. At the top of the village is a ruined old castle, and the scenery shown in the image is what you see from its walls. Due to the unique topography where the cliffs press right up to the coastline, the Mediterranean Sea looking down from the top of the cliff is of indescribable beauty, a view that can never be seen in Nice or Cannes (Photo 1).

The extraordinary architect Le Corbusier was also one of those fascinated by this landscape. He built a villa for his summer vacations in this place overlooking the sea of Cap Martin. Currently, this building is preserved as "Le Corbusier's Holiday Cabin" (tours available by reservation only) and has become a pilgrimage site for Corbusier fans. I have only seen the exterior, but although it is a log cabin too simple to be called a villa, perhaps with the view spreading out before him, he only needed a space that was necessary and sufficient. Unfortunately, Le Corbusier passed away after suffering a heart attack while swimming in the sea of Cap Martin that he loved. Therefore, Le Corbusier's grave is located on a high "Oka no Ue" overlooking the full sun and the beautiful blue sea (Photo 2).

Hiroyuki Ishida, Dean of the Graduate School of Health Management / Professor Faculty Profile