Nice to meet you, I'm Sato Hikaru from the Kamiyama Team of the Creative Department.
I came to Kamiyama and spent six months there last July as a member of the second class of the Kamiyama Monosasu Juku.
I have been working as a member of the Kamiyama satellite office since January of this year.
This time, I would like to talk about what brought me to Kamiyama, my experiences at Monosasu Juku, and my current life.
Why did you apply to Kamiyama Monosasu Juku in the first place?
The reason I wanted to join Monosasu Juku was because I was studying design at university and wanted to gain knowledge about the web in order to broaden the scope of what I could do.
I started to think this way about six months after graduating from university and starting work.
I once went to Niigata to hear about a company that uses an app to manage rice fields.
What I heard there was that, as the agricultural workforce is now aging, it is common for the remaining farms in the surrounding area to take over the rice fields of retired farmers, resulting in a complex and disorganized situation in which the rice fields under management are being managed.
As a result, the number of rice fields managed by a single farmer increases, making it difficult to record what was done in which field and when.
The company's proposal was to use GPS to keep records of what was done and when in each rice field.
In addition, the data entered into the app can be shared with people around you, so that even if you cannot directly teach them your skills or knowledge, they can use it as a reference.
After hearing that story, I felt that if I had the skills to approach things via the web, I would be able to expand the scope of what I could do, and I began to want to learn about the web.
In the midst of all this, I came across an ad for Monosasu Juku and thought this was my chance, so I applied.
What I came to face after attending Monosasusuku
When Monosasu Juku first started, we all lived together at the Ski Land Hotel for a month. After that, the men and women rented their own houses, but I was the only one who lived in a shared house with someone who lived in Kamiyama. (That house was going to be demolished, so I moved to another house after a month and a half, and I've been living alone ever since.)
At the ski land where I lived communally for a month, I often read manga in the lobby.
I was a little worried about living in Kamiyama at first, but I was able to live a basic life there, so it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. There were other students living together, and I felt lonely sometimes not being able to join in or keep up with the conversations they were having at home.
What has changed since my time at Monosasu Juku is that I have become more conscious of my habits.
It all started when I became conscious of how to listen to what people were saying during a lecture by Nishimura Yoshitetsu.
During the course, the students interviewed each other repeatedly, and it was striking to hear about the habits they all couldn't live without.
For example, how to smoke, morning exercises, taking a bath, or anything else you keep in mind in your daily life.
As I listened to these stories, I felt that each person had their own essential daily moments and preferences that they were particular about, and that these were clearly reflected in their habits and lifestyles.
It was also striking to see that this habit had become a way for each of them to relax.
From then on, I started to think about, "What are the habits that help me feel calm in my life? What do I do on a regular basis?"
Unlike the other students, I lived alone, so I was less directly influenced by other people's lifestyle habits.
This allowed me to really reflect on my own habits, tendencies, and obsessions.
When I first started, I didn't have many particular habits, but as I continued to face this, I began to look for habits that would help me feel better, such as making coffee and stretching.
I regularly stretch outside to loosen up my body that has become stiff from desk work, and I also rest my eyes by looking at the mountains in the distance.
There is nothing to do in my current life
I've been living in Kamiyama Town for a year.
Recently, I've been going to see a film that a private person puts on in town once a week on a weekday evening.
On my days off, I try to participate in any events that interest me, such as forestation activities like thinning trees and cutting grass in the mountains, or classes, and I am always trying to experience a variety of different things.
Some people hold their own events, and it seems like there is some kind of event going on every week in Kamiyama Town.
When I have nothing to do, I rent bikes at the cafe Brompton Depot where my fellow student Yoshida works, hike to Amagoi Falls, spend time at a cafe, or read a book. I live a life in Kamiyama where there is no shortage of things to do.
One of my favorite ways to spend my time is cycling on a rental bicycle from Cafe Brompton Depot.
Living in Kamiyama can also be a time when you are so busy with work and other things to do that before you know it, it feels like time just passes by.
Because there is so much to do, I would like to be able to live honestly as I am, rather than just chasing after what is in front of me.
モノサスアーカイブ