The Friend
The Newsletter of the ~suoee &ha.n9e. Ctrcl.a Jon. 14• 19'6 No.t
INGUIST.
Totalitarian worlds and the inhumRn collecttT11mr-of-.nt-l.-.UCe eoc-1--.~'1.-a are oft-.n.ieprot"ed a~ two1 of the more unpleasant lifestyles in store f<Sr NnJdJldo Yet CO!Bfflon sense tells us that a Til.riallt of auch fiction has already descended upon ua 1 in the guise of a growing homogeneity of. the physical and mental worlde. ·l'hank!ully perceptions - -.nd--valuea ~i:hange through time and space_•. Thus what may have been thought of as unacceptable by .our forefathens now admit ae part and parcel of everyday life. · '".-. · '. Oli!5e1"ieX11 have remarked on the,- similarity of outlook in all pa.rte the United States. The industrial revolution crowned man muter of his physical environment and new countries - poetwar Japan is no exception -- are man-made worlds. Though the Old Continent can · still ):>oast of .an undeniable heterogeneity, the on-going Homogeneity is not to l:l•. clae~ified. u good fac•lU't · it is submitted to will soon transform it into or bad. It Produces people capable ·of coo~raticn yet ~other american appendage . but alienates the individual, at least in the Vnfformity in the rea.1111 of thought is even more striking. short run. Yet it increases the average Tocqueville, in 1840 1 envisaged the kind of' deepotism happiness, allowing him to express hi••lf and which democracies might give birth to. He conceived 'of. be_understood. At the macro-level t~e rise of it u an abaol;ute, mild and· tutelary power whose eseential the World Economy means that differences . between function would · be to procure man the petty pleasw:ee wi'th all nations ·w ill diminish. Pessimists forecast which he 1gluts hie life, wh,ile softening, bending and an immobility analogous to that of tll, Roman guiding iu.. will. There remains ·a floc k of timid and .. : ·.' empire,or an· artistic and intellectual sterilit1 induatrioi,ia anima.l,e ot which the government ie the · similar to that oi' the Egyptian ciTili.&&tiOll. she5ile~. Compa.rati;ely speaking, people now read the Others beJ:ieve that the powerful forces of same things~ listen to the same things, go to the same science, boosted by the entrepreneurial· epirit places, hope for and tear the same objects. which democracies foster, will off'aet euch riaJce. The networ k ot complicated rules which fOl'III Today the instruments of maaa-communucation act inoea• the frame of modern society is despotism of a aantly towards etandardization within and acroas naticaal sort and the lives of the japa.nese '•al&X'1-(lllm' boun~e•• The similarity ot radio-fed topics ot conand hie western counterpart provide the base for versation, Hollywood's cultural i mperialism , the exacti- the erection of' human hives. These are the ney tude with which newspapers reproduce' the news they evila against which past writers have warned m receive from Presa agencies etc. are examplea of euch but modern man is unabashed perhaps rightl.7 110. uniformity. The process driving us towards the latter If atandardization now numb: ua with the ennui f'eede on iteelt and attempti ng t o separat e the cauee of routine we can alwaya ·turn to contemporary from the effect is hazardous. fic tion for r•l~ef and fresher thrills.
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. IY1L templQtLn9 .E lLtJ..nge -18.a"~tc J a pan ese students who come fro m outside Tokyo usually spend winter vacation at t heir. hometown and I duly went home to Toyama f- ref . for ;:ew Year ' s . ·r here many good points about going back to one ' s homet own -- eating much, driving around , and so on -- but the greatest ~leasure is meeting old friends . ~Y junior-high- and highschool frien dsal so come ho me fro m wherever they 1·ve been studying and we manage to bump in to one another at our ol d favorite ha unts for drinking. · Unlike the past , wheti we attended the same school- and all had more or less the saine lifestyle , the way we l ead our l i ves now varies from i ndividual to - i ndividual . ,;ie consider ourselves so to speak as "men of the present" , but I do yearn for the good old days . Looking back on it all I am.:surprised to realize that I now feel differently about many things . Life ' s trials and tribulations change our way of 't hinking. I was more satisfied with myself in -the past than Jam now • . In essence I f ee'l pursued by a sense of uneasiness. However, I understand what ·caus es this ~nxiety: I a.~ about to enter a wider world 1<han the one . I used to know. Looking ·rrom a wider perspective this may be proof that I' m growing tip . I Wish I could percei ve life ' s changes as they occur but I can onl y wait and be surprised at lhe difference between my f eelings , past and present . It is meaningful to wri te ciown one ' s fee l ings and thoughts wh enever one has t he chance , and writing thi s free column is a good opportunity .
ANNOUNCEMENTS! ANNOUNCEMENTS!
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Down+ 1 Next after first. 2 Turkey is in - -·
3 Not11.~. 4 When Wll are ill we _ _ in bed . .1 There are fish in it, 6 Aln1Mt but not quite. 3 A kind of flower. 7 rt Cdlole l.fw. 11c cl-.lc'4!,,? 8 'Don't do that!_ doing it!' s \;\tit~ . 9 I an1 Mai y's mC1ther. She Is my - -· 10 Put a question. 11 Cortt.Sl<i wttl,owt fr,-.,,, 12 Wlllt I buy in the shop I must - for.
. '.iould you like to study ~istory with ,Japanese friends? Lo you need help filling in those gaps i n your notes? Then join the LEG History Group at its new rnee t ing time , ;•:OEDAY
4TH
PERIOD
. in t he 2nd floor lounge. Feel fre e to bring whatever books you want to use! for rnore info: SHEiATOlU, :•1i chi ko ( so.) If you have some news or c0111111ente put it i n
pleaae
t he M-box of !SHIMURA, Chiaki (Jr. )•