Tokyo Toyama Public High School (4)

Aragaki: When I look at the people around me, I get a feeling, not so much of freedom, as one of doing whatever you feel like. It's like something is causing everyone's "self" to come out in the open. What I consider freedom is, each and every one of us is free, like one of my junior-high teachers said. Now there are times when there'll be friction between people, but you can't infringe on someone else's freedom. This teacher said that freedom is a very tough thing to work out.

Ishii: If you're going to protect freedom, you need to keep your word. Up to the year before we came in, you could wear any kind of footwear in the gym, but they started regulating it that year. People didn't keep their word about changing their footwear, so we lost that freedom. People just don't get it. They don't understand that you don't have freedoms if you don't keep your word, so they do what they like, and then get mad when their freedoms are lost. I figure it's their own stupidity.

Aragaki: I think there are some people out there who do understand. After all, there are lots of people at Toyama who come to Council activities and such.

Ishii: I figure people would understand if they worked on the Operations Committee, but once they start in with afterschool activities, that's all that matters to them.

Yoshioka: Around here, the word "freedom" depends on how the grown-ups see it.

Ishii: They've placed their trust in us, is that what you're saying?

Yoshioka: That's all it means to be a grown-up, being responsible. Acting within the agreed-upon rules. Conversely, we're given a stage wherein we're permitted to become grown-ups, but not everyone actually makes it.

Aragaki: They only get partway.

Suenaga: But they assert their rights. "It Reflects the Way Japan Is Now"

Yoshioka: Looking at Toyama now, I feel like I'm seeing a reflection of what Japan is like these days. Everyone's real smart, they're struggling, they do anything, they work hard, and they study too. It's a feeling of, I myself can do anything, but who cares about Toyama as long as I'm OK. People do anything to elevate themselves. Turn it around, and it's selfishness. Nobody thinks about what's around them. I think this school is full of egotistical people. If I were to put it another way, I'd say they have ambition. "No Going to Any Trouble for Others"

Ishii: No one goes to any trouble for anything outside themselves.

Yoshioka: Nobody talks of working for other people or one's country. It may be nice to get the job you want now, and be able to do only what you want, but I want to ask, who's going to safeguard this country, Japan, which we live in? We need to have this kind of awareness. Japan as a country will cease to exist. Of all the things I've lived through, I think the natural wilderness is especially wonderful, and I'm also very fond of the culture and history. I think we can't let all of this be lost.

Aragaki: This discussion has taken a big leap.

Suemune: Well, small things do get bigger, and I think the heart of the matter is right around there.

Aragaki: We're not the only ones concerned about things like that. I'm sure students in every school are thinking about these things.

Ishii: I get a premonition that Japan is in for dark times ahead, but not a sense of personal crisis, that I have to change it.

Aragaki: Everyone says Japan is done for, but no one does anything about it.

Ishii: It's all just talk. No one feels a crisis coming on, so there's no feeling that one needs to do something.

Anno: You're a sharp group. I'd consider you templates for Japan. This is really, really good.
(To Be Continued)

(From the May 28, 1998 edition of Mainichi Intermediate-School Times)