みかん王国 Kindgom of Oranges

みかんの季節に松山に来て、伊予鉄の電車やバスの色がオレンジである理由にようやく気づいた。そう、ここは日本有数の柑橘類の産地。もう一つの一大産地である和歌山県に比べてみかんアピールがハンパない。伊予鉄の松山市駅にある百貨店で開かれていたみかんの品評会に行ってみたところ、さまざまなネーミングのみかんが驚くような値段で売られていた。愛媛県は品種改良でブランドみかんを作り、高付加価値化を狙っているのがうかがえた。方やもう一方のみかん王国である和歌山県はというと、みかんの季節に紀南地方に行くと、大きさだけで分けられたオーソドックスなみかんが店頭に山積みされ、驚くほど安い値段で売られていた。こちらのみかんは平凡ながら実に甘くておいしい。そして和歌山県は梅の生産高も日本一だからか、やたらとみかんをプッシュすることもない。もう一つ面白いのが、愛媛県の人たちが東京の人と同じみかんの剥き方をするのに対して、和歌山県の人たちは「有田剥き」という独特の剥き方をする。有田の人に聞いたら「ほかの剥き方がわからない」といわれた。愛媛県は高付加価値化を剝きやすさに優先させたためかやたらと皮が固い品種があったりする。お土産でもらうとどうしてよいかわからない。ところが地元の人は多少の厚さの皮であれば素手で剥いてしまう。そこはやはりみかん県と感心させられる。

Coming to Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture in the season of mikan (mandarin oranges), I finally realized why Iyo Railways trains, trams and buses are all orange in color. Yes, this is one of the leading citrus growing areas in Japan. Compared to Wakayama Prefecture, another major growing area, the appeal of mikan is much stronger. I went to a mikan fair held at a department store in the city, where variously named mikans were sold at surprisingly high prices. It was apparent that Ehime Prefecture is aiming to add value to its mikan by improving the variety and creating brand-name oranges. In contrast, when I visited the Kinan region of Wakayama Prefecture during the mikan season, I found piles of orthodox mikans sorted only by size being sold at surprisingly low prices in stores. The mikans here are ordinary, but really sweet and tasty. And perhaps because Wakayama Prefecture is also Japan's largest producer of plums, they do not push mikan too much. Another interesting point is that while people in Ehime peel mikan the same way as people in Tokyo, people in Wakayama peel them in a unique way called "Arida peeling". When I asked a person from Wakayama, he replied, "I don't know any other way to peel oranges." In Ehime Prefecture, there are some varieties with excessively hard skin, perhaps because high added value is prioritized over ease of peeling. When I receive them as souvenirs, I don't know what to do with them. However, local people can peel the skin with their bare hands unless the skin is too thick and hard. Ehime deserves to be called the kingdom of oranges for the skill.

情報鎖国の困った人々 Troubled people in information-shrouded island nation

フェイスブック友だちが日本語しか理解しない日本人とは話がかみ合わないということを書いていたが、彼が指摘する通り、万人が知るべき重要な情報はどんどん英語に集約されている一方、日本語で拡散される情報は内容が乏しく不正確で、無為に感情的なものばかりになってしまった。世界2位の経済大国からアジア最貧国への道をひた走る我が島国はこうした情報鎖国状態に置かれて国民がまともな判断力を失っているように見え、今後さらに凋落に拍車がかかるだろう。しかし自らのスポンサーに利益を誘導することで政権を維持している為政者にとって国民を容易に洗脳できる状況はこの上なく好都合で、今やアジア一英語力が低い日本国民の英語教育を強化する動機づけはないだろう。

A Facebook friend of mine wrote that he has a hard time communicating with Japanese people who only understand Japanese. As he pointed out, important information that everyone should know is increasingly concentrated in English, while information disseminated in Japanese has become inaccurate, lacking in content, and emotionally charged for no good reason. Our island nation, which keeps going downhill from the world's second largest economy to the poorest in Asia, seems to have lost the ability to make sound judgments due to this state of information isolation, and its decline will be further accelerated in the future. However, the politicians, who are in power by steering profits to their sponsors, would find it extremely convenient to be able to brainwash the people easily, and there would be no incentive to strengthen English education for the Japanese people, whose English proficiency is now the lowest in Asia.