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グラスボート
最近、筆者は、沖縄県那覇市の南にある小さな浜辺を訪れた。地元の人たちが昔から利用しているその浜辺で、筆者は砂の色が途中から変化しているのに気づいた。海に生息する美しい魚とサンゴを見るために、地元の友人とグラスボートに乗ると、確かにいろいろな種類の色鮮やかで変わった魚が泳いでいるのが見えたが、それにも何かおかしなところがあるようだ…。
Glass-Bottomed Boat
By DOUGLAS LUMMIS
Recently I visited a small seaside recreation area south of Naha. This was not one of the gaudy, expensive beach resorts built for what the Okinawans call yamatonchu ― yamato Japanese. Rather it has been there for many years and has been used mainly by local people.
The person I went with, who is an uchinanchu ― a native of Okinawa ― remembered visiting there during her school days and riding in a glass-bottomed boat. Through the glass you could see wide stretches of colorful coral, populated by countless tropical fish.
We noticed that the beach was covered with sand brought in from somewhere else. You could tell by the way it was piled up against the hill on the inland side that it had been dumped by trucks, not brought in by waves. Also you could see a clear line near the water's edge where the local sand ended and the imported sand began. (The imported sand was white and soft; the local sand was dark, rocky and rather hard ― not suitable for sunbathing.) My friend told me that this is done at most resort beaches in Okinawa now. The trouble is that the imported sand is soon carried away by the sea.
We bought tickets and boarded the glass-bottomed boat. Besides us, there were four young yamatonchu women. The driver said, "First I'll take you to where the fish are." We sped to a place somewhat distant from the shore and stopped there. Indeed, through the glass we could see a few tropical fish of exotic shapes and brilliant colors. The four women, in a holiday mood, excitedly asked the driver the names of the various species, and he obligingly told them, even when they asked about the same fish several times.
But something about the fish seemed odd. Fish tend to swim together in orderly schools that form beautiful patterns, but these fish were crowding together in a disorderly mob. Then I discovered the reason: The driver was feeding them fish food through the bottom of the boat. That is why they all came up to the boat when it arrived ― they had been trained to, like carp in a pond.
Then the driver said, "Now I'll take you to where the coral is," and drove the boat to a different place. There we could see some shapes in the water, brown and gray. "Is that coral?" one woman asked. "It's dirty, isn't it," another muttered. Trying to maintain their vacation spirits, they raised their voices: "Oh, coral!" "Look, coral!" Then we returned to the shore.
Later my friend told me that when she took the boat trip as a child, you could see fish and coral as soon as the boat left the dock. Since then something ― pollution? imported sand? the tourist industry in general? ― has come close to destroying their habitat. What we saw through the glass was not a world untouched by overdevelopment, but overdevelopment itself, in all its tragic ugliness.
Recently I visited a small seaside recreation area south of Naha. This was not one of the gaudy, expensive beach resorts built for what the Okinawans call yamatonchu ― yamato Japanese. Rather it has been there for many years and has been used mainly by local people.
The person I went with, who is an uchinanchu ― a native of Okinawa ― remembered visiting there during her school days and riding in a glass-bottomed boat. Through the glass you could see wide stretches of colorful coral, populated by countless tropical fish.
We noticed that the beach was covered with sand brought in from somewhere else. You could tell by the way it was piled up against the hill on the inland side that it had been dumped by trucks, not brought in by waves. Also you could see a clear line near the water's edge where the local sand ended and the imported sand began. (The imported sand was white and soft; the local sand was dark, rocky and rather hard ― not suitable for sunbathing.) My friend told me that this is done at most resort beaches in Okinawa now. The trouble is that the imported sand is soon carried away by the sea.
We bought tickets and boarded the glass-bottomed boat. Besides us, there were four young yamatonchu women. The driver said, "First I'll take you to where the fish are." We sped to a place somewhat distant from the shore and stopped there. Indeed, through the glass we could see a few tropical fish of exotic shapes and brilliant colors. The four women, in a holiday mood, excitedly asked the driver the names of the various species, and he obligingly told them, even when they asked about the same fish several times.
But something about the fish seemed odd. Fish tend to swim together in orderly schools that form beautiful patterns, but these fish were crowding together in a disorderly mob. Then I discovered the reason: The driver was feeding them fish food through the bottom of the boat. That is why they all came up to the boat when it arrived ― they had been trained to, like carp in a pond.
Then the driver said, "Now I'll take you to where the coral is," and drove the boat to a different place. There we could see some shapes in the water, brown and gray. "Is that coral?" one woman asked. "It's dirty, isn't it," another muttered. Trying to maintain their vacation spirits, they raised their voices: "Oh, coral!" "Look, coral!" Then we returned to the shore.
Later my friend told me that when she took the boat trip as a child, you could see fish and coral as soon as the boat left the dock. Since then something ― pollution? imported sand? the tourist industry in general? ― has come close to destroying their habitat. What we saw through the glass was not a world untouched by overdevelopment, but overdevelopment itself, in all its tragic ugliness.
Shukan ST: Jan. 9, 1998
(C) All rights reserved
- seaside recreation area
- 海辺の娯楽エリア
- gaudy
- 派手な
- Okinawans
- 沖縄県人
- yamatonchu
- やまとんちゅー。日本本土(沖縄から見て他府県)の人。大和人
- local people
- 地元の人
- uchinanchu
- うちなんちゅー。沖縄の人
- native
- (よそ者に対して)土地の人
- wide stretches of 〜
- 〜 の広がり
- coral
- サンゴ
- populated by 〜
- 〜 が生息している
- countless
- 無数の
- tropical fish
- 熱帯魚
- was piled up against 〜
- 〜 のところに積み上げられている
- inland side
- 内陸側
- had been dumped by 〜
- 〜 からドサッと降ろされた
- water's edge
- 水際
- imported
- 運び入れられた
- not suitable for 〜
- 〜 に適していない
- sunbathing
- 日光浴
- is soon carried away by 〜
- 〜 に洗われ、すぐに流されてしまう
- boarded
- 乗った
- sped
- 疾走した
- 〜 somewhat distant from the shore
- 岸から少し離れた 〜
- Indeed
- 確かに
- exotic
- エキゾチックな
- brilliant
- 鮮やかな
- various species
- さまざまな種
- obligingly
- 親切に
- odd
- 変な
- tend to 〜
- 〜 する傾向がある
- in orderly schools
- 秩序のある群れをなして
- were crowding together
- いっしょくたになって群がっていた
- in a disorderly mob
- 無秩序な一群となって
- was feeding them fish food
- 魚にまき餌をやっていた
- carp
- 鯉
- muttered
- つぶやいた
- maintain their vacation spirits
- うきうきした休暇気分を保ち続ける
- dock
- 船着場
- pollution
- 汚染
- tourist industry in general
- 観光業全般
- has come close to 〜
- 〜 しそうになってきている
- habitat
- すみか
- world untouched by 〜
- 〜 によって損なわれていない世界
- overdevelopment
- 開発のしすぎ
- in all its tragic ugliness
- 痛ましいくらい醜い姿の