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YM COLUMN ARCHIVE

September 16, 2009

From Abashiri to Naha

Let me write down the places I’ve visited outside of Tokyo metropolitan area during past ten days. Nagoya→Naha→Kagoshima→Abashiri→Ichinomiya. Means by which I travelled are, needless to say, airplanes and bullet trains and never by my own feet, nevertheless at this age of mine fatigue from moving around is piling up so as to bloat my legs perhaps partly because of my diabetes. Besides, I have a symptom of apnea, which I regularly make checked at hospital. Anyway, I’m desperately determined now to start “operation to reduce weight by ten kilogram”.

When I look back at past five years of my activity (by keeping the same level of weight) to promote “space education”, I’m confident to say my efforts have not ended up in vain, of which example can be seen in the Google search of the word on Internet where you will find 17,800 thousand items for the key word “space education”. Sorting out how many, out of this total number, are related to space education by JAXA and its parties concerned is impossible to do because of its enormous number. What I found out was that the first two pages at least were about the activities by “acquaintances” and “fellow friends”.

We are only at the threshold beginning to understand what space education means. Let me pick up below at random some of the items I’m trying to theorize now in a power point manner. I hope you would read them between the lines.

[What is space education?]

* How different is it from public relations and promotional activities? Advertisement of institution ⇔ promotion of knowledge ⇔ contribution to society

* Is space education needed for bringing up successors?
Not “education about space” but “education through space”

* Is space education a science education?
Space as science education (family, community and school)
Space as introductory material – to be developed to other courses
Space education is the education on “life”.
New nation building through space education (contribution to the world by Japan)
-----Space education is resonance between versatile ability of children and diversity/multi variety of space-----

[Problems with space education]

* To always begin from children. (Ordinary teachers begin from oneselves.)
Create meaning of new family, community and school.

* To change to daily routine/continuity from event
See to blankness between events

*To cement a bond
Organize social education power

It will take a long time to explain all above, but I would like to do that not before long.

And now, Ichiro made a tremendous record of 200 hits for nine consecutive years. Some may say “baseball is just one of entertainments” but “what is great is great” whether it is an entertainment or hobby. Mephistopheles said, “The bloke sometimes appears trying to capture heavenly stars and some other times pursues the greatest joy on earth. Whatever it may be near or far, nothing satisfies his boiling breast”. (From Faust by Goethe) (Translated by TPS/J)

Ichiro has many other records such as “the greatest number of hits, 262 a year” “record of 3000 hits of his career both in Japan and USA” “victory deciding hit at World Baseball Classic” “2000 hits in major league”. What impresses me most at Ichiro’s interview for achieving the great record is that he appears happy with his achievement but never looks worn out. Comparing his attitude with other records of Japanese professional baseball like 3000 life time hits by Isao Harimoto and 400 life time wins by Shoichi Kaneda, it is even more conspicuously impressive.

I think Sadaharu Oh still had his power left to hit 30 home runs a year when he retired, though. I sympathized with his sense of aesthetic when he said, “I will retire because I can no longer do batting of Sadaharu Oh”. Ichiro is 35 years old. I have a feeling that Ichiro will retire in the way Oh did because he seems to take aesthetic of his own most important. At any rate, let’s make a toast to Ichiro’s challenging spirits!

I welcome your opinions on this column to the following E-mail address.
matogawa@planetary.or.jp

(Translated by The Planetary Society of Japan)