成人の日に―仲間とつながり世の中へ

2011/01/11
--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 10
EDITORIAL: On Coming-of-Age Day
成人の日に―仲間とつながり世の中へ

For those of you celebrating your Coming-of-Age Day, have you ever heard this phrase: "J'avais vingt ans. Je ne laisserai personne dire que c'est le plus bel age de la vie" (I was 20 years old. I will not allow anyone to say that is the most beautiful time of one's life)?
　「僕は二十歳（はたち）だった。それが人生でもっとも美しいときだなんて誰にも言わせない」
　成人の日を迎える君は、この一節を聞いたことがあるだろうか？

These are the opening lines of "Aden, Arabie," a novel written by the French writer Paul Nizan.
　フランスの作家ポール・ニザンの著書「アデン、アラビア」（小野正嗣訳）の書き出しである。

Grown-ups say that youth is beautiful, but Nizan crystallized the universal sentiments of the frustrated youth into those sentences.
　青春は美しいと大人は言う。これに反発する若者たちの異議申し立てを、普遍的に表した一文だ。

However, even for us grown-ups, the situation surrounding you, the 20-year-olds of today, seems quite grim. The times are hardly "the most beautiful" for you.
　だがその大人の目にさえ、君を取り巻く状況は厳しく映る。とても「美しいとき」ではなかろう、と。

The year 1990 began with stock prices plummeting on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. That was when the asset-inflated bubble economy burst. Since then, neither equity nor land prices have returned to bubble-era levels.
　１９９０年、東京証券取引所の新年は株価暴落で明けた。バブルの崩壊である。その後、株価も地価もなかなか元には戻らない。

You are the first generation of those who have lived through constant economic decline.
　君は経済が右肩下がりの時代を生きた初めての世代のなかにいる。

Japan is caught in the grips of the long-term stagnation of the "lost two decades." And we are rushing into an unprecedented state of an aging society with fewer children.
　「失われた２０年」の長期停滞から抜け出せない日本は、前例のない少子高齢化社会に突入している。

The burden of the country's huge national debt and the increasing pension premiums and medical costs will weigh heavily upon your shoulders. On top of that, it's a hard time for job seekers. Your part-time jobs are not paying more, either.
　君たちの肩には今後、国の抱える膨大な借金と、増え続ける年金や医療費の負担がのしかかる。そのうえ就職難だ。バイト代だって頭打ちが続く。

While other Asian countries are rising, you are said to be inward-looking.
Your generation has been called "herbivores." Young women are described as aiming to become full-time homemakers. You have been criticized as lacking gumption compared with young people in China or South Korea.
The older generation constantly badgers you with such phrases as, "Ryoma, come forth," referring to Sakamoto Ryoma (1835-1867), a key figure in the restoration movement to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate.
　アジアの他国が台頭するなか、君たちは、内向きだ、草食系だ、専業主婦願望が強いなどと評されてきた。中国や韓国の若者に比べ、ガッツがないと責められ、「龍馬、いでよ」「坂の上の雲はどこへ」とせっつかれる。

I'm sure you want to say to such grown-ups, "Excuse me, but who exactly was it that made a hash of things in the first place?"
　こんな世の中にだれがした、と文句のひとつも言いたいところだろう。

Nevertheless, we worry about whether things will be all right when we see your peers engrossed in their games and mobile phones on the train. We worry that perhaps you are averting your eyes from reality to avoid becoming further depressed.
　しかし電車でゲームや携帯に没頭する君たちを見ると大丈夫か、と心配が先に立つ。世間の情勢を知れば、暗くなるからと、現実から目をそむけているのではないかと疑いたくもなる。

If our old-age fears are totally unfounded, that would be great.
　年配者の杞憂（きゆう）であれば幸いだ。

Your generation grew up along with mobile phones and digital devices. You can connect with a myriad of people all over the world through Facebook.
　君たちは携帯やデジタル機器とともに育った。雲は坂の上ではなく、インターネットのクラウドにあり、フェイスブックを通じて、世界中の人々と重層的につながってゆく可能性がある。

The adults used to get all geared up about life, saying the goal was self-realization. But you and your peers have something else. It may be a group of buddies, or the importance of being connected with your friends.
　大人たちはかつて、「人生の目標は自己実現だ」なんて力んでいた。でも君たちは何か違うものをもっている。「それは仲間」なのだろう。仲間とつながることはとても大切だ。

The number of this year's new adults is 1.24 million. For the first time, this is less than 1 percent of the entire population. In terms of numbers, you are a minority. So it would not be a bad thing for you and your peers to stay connected.
　新成人は１２４万人。初めて人口の１％を切った。数の上ではマイノリティーだ。だからなおさら、お互いにつながりを求めることは悪くない。

But how about talking with many different people outside your group?
　でも仲間とだけではなく、いろんな人と話してみてはどうだろう。

Take your e-books and go outside into the world. Seek knowledge and learn about the situation surrounding you. Then work with your mates and aspire to change the world.
　電子書籍を持って町に出る。知識を求め、自分たちの置かれている状況を知る。そのうえで仲間と連帯して世の中を変えていく志を持つことだ。

As you embark upon these hard times, we would like to dedicate to you a phrase from a poem written by another revolutionary at the end of the Edo Period, Takasugi Shinsaku (1839-1867): "To spend this uncheerful world with much cheer."
　高杉晋作の句を、厳しい時代にこぎ出す君へのエールとしたい。
「おもしろきこともなき世をおもしろく」

This is the spirit to live by as you make your way in the world.
　こんな精神で世を渡って欲しい。