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宝のような島々
筆者はこの夏休み、日本を発ってハワイ、南カリフォルニアのバルボア島、そしてカナダ南東部のケープブレトン島と、島めぐりの旅をした。
どの島でも時間はゆったりと流れ、人々は他愛ないおしゃべりを愛した。
翻って島国・日本のことを考えてみると…。
Treasured islands
I found myself traveling from island to island this summer. After flying from the "island nation" of Japan to volcanic Hawaii, then to the manmade island Balboa off the coast of southern California, and finally to the rural hideaway of Cape Breton, I began to notice some traits common to island life.
First, I encountered the phenomenon known as "island time" — whereby nearly everything happens slower than you'd expect. Delays can span from ten minutes to about three months. Ordering lunch in a restaurant can segue right into the dinner hour, a tire repair can inflate to a week's wait, and minor house renovations — installing a ceiling fan for the summer, for example — might blow right into next season. On an island, one has to go with the flow, even if that flow is like molasses in winter.
Islanders, I found, tend to turn any chore into a social event. When you take your flapping flat tire into an island gas station, all the attendants (and their mothers and neighbors) sidle up to hear the tale. What exactly happened, and where and with whom, they want to know. This leads to talk about the local roads, to be followed by retellings of tire-related accidents throughout the island's history, and finally, if you're not too self-important as to seem busy, you'll hear the latest island gossip. Island people value stories, listen carefully and share news, and, of course, that's how "island time" happens.
Because an island's only border is the sea, the threat of "invaders" (historically, enemies; currently, tourists) is omnipresent. Islanders must also contend with storms and hurricanes, and isolation during off-season months. For protection and mutual support, they tend to treat each other with extreme courtesy — you never know if the person you snub is the only roofer on the island. Once deemed unthreatening, visitors get the same polite treatment.
But visitors leave, so off-season, islanders need to know how to entertain themselves. Perhaps for this reason, regional arts are popular in the isles. Hawaiians dance the hula, Cape Breton is full of Gaelic fiddlers, and Balboans invent sweets, such as their famous chocolate-coated frozen banana. On all the islands, the art of cooking naturally features seafood.
Though many blame Japan's insular attitude on centuries of sea-bound isolation, I rarely think of Tokyo as being on an island. However, perhaps the city is more island than meets the eye initially. Take the average work scenario. Few Japanese will begin a business discussion without a fair amount of social chitchat first, which follows the island code of sociability. Most Japanese offices also feature open layouts that facilitate personal interconnections, another island-like idea. Could the tea ceremony, I began to wonder, though refined and ritualized, be thought of as a four-hour, island-time tea break? How about the Japanese structure of honor? Could it too, have grown from basic island concerns for interconnectivity? I've always known that Japan has a rich array of unique, regional art forms, and few prepare fish better, but as this summer's odyssey ends, I have begun to chart the island dimensions of my adopted home.
- Treasured Islands
- R・スティーブンソン著Treasure Island(『宝島』)のもじり
- hideaway
- 隠れ家
- traits
- 特徴
- span from 〜 to 〜
- 〜から〜にわたる
- segue right into 〜
- そのまま〜へと移っていく
- inflate to 〜
- 〜になる
- house renovations
- 家の改修
- ceiling fan
- 天井扇
- blow right into 〜
- そのまま〜に続く
- molasses in winter
- 冬の糖蜜(=どろりと固まっていることから、のろいことの例え)
- chore
- 日々の雑事
- flapping
- ガタガタ転がる
- sidle up
- 寄ってくる
- retellings
- (同じ話の)繰り返し
- if you're not too self-important as to seem busy
- 偉そうに構え、忙しげに見えなければ
- omnipresent
- あちこちにある
- contend with 〜
- 〜と闘う
- snub
- 〜を鼻であしらう
- roofer
- 屋根職人
- Once deemed unthreatened
- 一度無害だと見なされると
- isles
- 島
- hula
- フラダンス
- Gaelic fiddlers
- ケープブレトン島特有のスタイルのバイオリン弾き
- insular
- 島国根性の
- sea-bound
- 海に閉ざされた
- is more 〜 than meets the eye
- 見かけ以上に〜である
- chitchat
- おしゃべり
- code
- 行動規範
- facilitate
- 〜を促す
- interconnections
- 相互のつながり
- ritualized
- 儀式ばった
- array of 〜
- 数々の〜
- odyssey
- 長期の放浪
- chart
- 〜を見直す
- dimensions
- 特徴
- adopted home
- 第2の故郷