このページはフレーム対応ブラウザ用に作成されています。下のリンクは非フレーム使用ページですのでそちらをご覧ください。
この記事をプリントする
旅先の人の目線で考える
前回のエッセー(11月17日号)で、安心して外国旅行をするためには、旅行者に見えないようにすることが大切だと述べた筆者。
そしてもう一つ、旅を楽しむためのコツとして、今号で筆者が紹介してくれたのは、「地元の人の目線でものを考えること」だ。
Going native
Architectural wonders are grand, but for me their halls ring a little empty without some tangible "human'' element. To put it another way, I'm not going to spend all that money and travel all that distance, just to buy a ticket and wait in line to spend a few minutes inside a museum, temple or other place of interest. I'd rather just wait until they show it on television, with close-up shots from all angles. For me, traveling is all about the people that you brush elbows with.
But when traveling abroad, getting in close to the actual inhabitants of a given place is easier said than done.
For starters, you might not even see any at all. Take Rome, for instance. Go for a stroll near the Fountain of Trevi, the Spanish Steps or even some of the cafes and markets there. You're much more likely to bump into (or get bowled over by) a foreign tourist than to come across any real live Romans. Even if you do manage to sight locals — in Rome or elsewhere — dollars to donuts they've spotted you first, and well in advance.
If they haven't already fled the scene they'll have their ears perked up, on high alert. Your very presence as a tourist will prevent you from seeing them as they really are. Any naturalist worth his salt knows that you've got to blend into the environment if you want to observe animals as they are naturally in the wild. The same holds true when traveling abroad to observe a corner of humanity other than your own.
In my last essay I explained that tourism is safer when you try not to look like a tourist. Well, it's more interesting that way, too. If locals look at you and see not an outsider but someone who appears to be one of them, they'll carry on with what they were doing. You, just like a naturalist who has blended in, get to be right in the middle of things.
Some might argue that it is not possible for them to look like a local in their target destination, that differences in skin or hair color, or other physical characteristics might make the task difficult. Yes, difficult but not impossible, I would say. At least in most cases. There may be very few people with faces common in Japan living in, say, Greece. Likewise, in Laos, people who look like me are few and far between. But I have found that I can still blend in if I try, just by moving like a person on his way to or from the workplace, rather than one who just got off a plane.
The key thing to remember is not to be an obvious tourist, and to try to think like a native. Even if you don't succeed in blending in, your efforts will help you to see eye-to-eye with the people in the society you are visiting. Or, if not, at least it will give you a better chance of getting some close-up views of what life is really like. And that's why you're traveling in the first place, isn't it?
- Architectural wonders
- 建物の素晴らしさ
- are grand
- 壮観だ
- halls ring a little empty
- 大広間も空しく感じられる
- tangible
- 目に見える
- "human" element
- 「人間」という要素
- To put it another way
- 換言すれば
- spend all that money and travel all that distance
- 大金を費やし、長い距離を旅する
- place of interest
- 名所
- 〜 is all about 〜
- 〜で一番大切なのは〜だ
- brush elbows with
- 袖擦りあう
- getting in close to the actual inhabitants of a given place
- そこに実際に住む人たちに接すること
- is easier said than done
- 口で言うほど簡単ではない
- For starters
- まず
- might not even see any at all
- 全く誰にも出会えないかも知れない
- Go for a stroll
- 散歩してごらんなさい
- Fountain of Trevi
- トレビの泉
- Spanish Steps
- スペイン階段
- bump into 〜
- 〜に出くわす
- get bowled over by 〜
- 〜に突き倒される
- come across 〜
- 〜に遭遇する
- live
- 本物の
- manage to 〜
- なんとか〜する
- sight locals
- 地元の人を見つける
- dollars to donuts
- 十中八九
- (have)spotted 〜
- 〜を見つけている
- and well in advance
- しかもずっと前に
- If they haven't already fled the scene
- すでにその場からいなくなっているのでなければ
- have their ears perked up
- 耳をそばだてている
- on high alert
- 警戒して
- very presence
- 存在そのもの
- Any naturalist worth his salt
- 有能なナチュラリストなら誰でも
- blend into the environment
- 周囲に溶け込む
- in the wild
- 野生の状態で
- holds true
- 当てはまる
- a corner of humanity
- 人間性の一端
- that way
- その方が
- get to be right in the middle of things
- 活動の真っただ中に入ることができる
- target destination
- 旅行先
- task
- 行為
- far between
- ごくまれな
- native
- 地元の人
- see eye-to-eye
- 気持ちを通い合わせる
- if not
- そこまでいかなくても
- in the first place
- そもそも