News&Topics
The 28th Cross Cultural Event was held.
On June 30, a Cross Cultural Event aimed at iCONM staff, facility users, and stakeholders from Kawasaki City and the Industrial Promotion Foundation was held. This time, Yuko Karita, a research support specialist at iCONM, introduced Shinjuku and Japanese literature.
Many literary figures who lived in Shinjuku, such as Takizawa Bakin and Koizumi Yakumo, were introduced, along with intriguing trivia about Natsume Sōseki, who spent his student days at the University of Tokyo and was the author of "I Am a Cat," but was known to prefer dogs. The long-established stationery shop "Sōmaya" in Kagurazaka is known for changing manuscript paper from Japanese papers (Washi) to Western papers, thanks to a suggestion by Ozaki Kōyō, famous for "The Golden Demon." Nagai Kafū's "Hiyorigeta" depicts Kafū walking through the back streets of Tokyo with an Edo map, capturing the charm of the city. The kyōka poet Ōta Nanpuo, who appears in the NHK historical drama "Berabou," is also from Shinjuku, and his inscription is engraved at Kumano Shrine in Shinjuku Central Park. Nanpou also lived in Kawasaki and is said to have written about the people living in the Tamagawa river basin.
For those unfamiliar with Japanese literature, the content might have been somewhat challenging, but the cultural exchange through literature made for a unique and enjoyable Cross Culture Event.
