田村正和は作家に愛された俳優だった～眠狂四郎、腕下主丞、子連れ狼…… - ペリー荻野｜論座 asahi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asahi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Apr 10, 2021
Let’s travel back in time for a moment. The 1966 edition of Fodor’s Guide to Japan and East Asia contained a 34-page introductory essay by famed translator and literary scholar Edward Seidensticker titled “Japan: A crowded, lonely land.”
“Although a Japanese is seldom alone, it may be said that he is frequently, perhaps even characteristically, lonely,” wrote Seidensticker. “Japan is not a society of relaxed, easy associations. … All in all it is a chilly, fragmented, constricting world.”
Whether the above is true or not, the government under Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga recently announced steps to address the problem of loneliness, which over the past 14 months has almost certainly been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.