Takahiro Kuroda
Composer
Commission
Commissioned by Azabu Alumni Orchestra (amateur orchestra)
Performance duration
14'
Premiere
August 12, 2019, Tokyo, Suntory Hall Main Hall
Conductor: Masato Suzuki
Azabu Alumni Orchestra
Year of composition
2019
Instrumentation
str(15.15.10.10.8) - assistant performoers(by wind instrumentalists and percussionists) - audience
Commentary (English version)
I usually carefully observe the changes in the society around me and the community I live in - which can be both short term and long term perspectives - and want to find out why. And if I can see a problem in the structure of the society or country from that, I may create a work of art on that theme, with the desire to appeal to others.
Let me explain the process of experiencing this piece. First, the audience will be blindfolded just before the start of the performance (it's not compulsory, but the composer would like them to do so whenever possible). In other words, the audience will listen to the performance with their vision blocked, and the music coming from the string orchestra (which is supposed to be playing on the stage) is quite low in volume, with only chords, and the changes in the constituent and length of those chords, as well as the changes in the length of rests between chords, are minute. Therefore, the audience (who can enjoy this kind of situation) will naturally have keenly senses other than hearing. In such a very quiet hall, after a short time has passed since the start of the performance, available wind and percussion players (and the composer himself, if he is present) will enter from the backstage as assistant performers, without making a sound, and will be dispersed throughout the hall. The assistant performers will walk around the hall as quietly as possible, read, eat and drink, play games (anything from chess and board games to portable game consoles), blow bubbles, etc. (but only with the hall's permission). In addition, they will take pictures (not only still pictures, but also video) of the hall using a photo application on their smartphones (which does not make a shutter sound), and post them in real time on SNS such as Twitter and Instagram with a exclusive hashtag. After a while, the assistant performers leave the stage offstage, out of the hall, before the string orchestra finishes its performance. With the audience's vision blocked, those with good intuition or sensitivity might be able to vaguely notice that something is going on around them, but they will not be able to grasp the specifics because it is forbidden to take off the blindfold until the performance is over. Accordingly, the audience will then be able to see what was happening in the hall during the performance by actively viewing photos and videos on social networking sites during the intermission and after the performance.
Why did I compose such a piece where the music that the audience can hear is only slightly changing, and where the audience's view is blocked so that they are not shown what is happening in real time during the performance, but are made to grasp what is happening by actively viewing photos and videos on social media after the performance? The reason is that I want people to be more aware and sensitive to the things that are hard to notice in their daily lives, the things that they see but don't think about because they take them for granted, and the things that are slowly but surely changing in our society.
I have lived in Japan for many years now, and the parts of my life that are familiar to me are slowly but surely changing. For example, when I was in elementary school, most of the people who worked part-time at convenience stores and fast food restaurants were Japanese (as far as I am aware). As I progressed through junior high school, high school, and college, the part-time workers at such restaurants shifted from Japanese to Chinese and Korean, and recently, I have the impression that they are shifting even further to Southeast Asian and Arab people. At the time of composing this piece, I was living in my parents' house in Yokohama, where I have lived for more than 20 years, and I saw more foreign people living in my neighborhood than ever before.
As you can see, there are many foreign people working in these easily visible areas, but in fact, there are also many foreign people working in places far away from the city that we cannot usually see, such as plants (lunch plant, plant that pack products, etc.). Many of them are foreign students. The reason for the increase in the number of foreign students is the "Plan for 300,000 Exchange Students" formulated by the Japanese government in 2008 as part of its "Global Strategy" to develop Japan into a more open country to the world. As a result, many foreign students have come to Japan, but many of them come from poor families. Since these people come to Japan with debts, they have to repay their debts and also pay for their schooling. Therefore, they have to work illegally, far exceeding the maximum working hours of 28 hours or less per week allowed for international students (wages are also low). As a result, I spend most of my time going back and forth between school and work with little time to sleep. However, if I don't work, I have to pay school and dormitory fees, and if I can't pay, I will be expelled from school and forced to return home. Furthermore, there are problems such as excessive shifts and non-payment of wages, and when they try to complain, they are usually threatened with being reported to the Immigration Bureau. There are also cases where the workplace is "affiliated" with a Japanese language school, and working at the workplace is a condition for enrollment, and the moment you quit, you may be forced to leave the school and return home. Although many foreign students have come to Japan as a result of the Japanese government's policy, the reality is that many of them are from poor families who are tricked into coming to Japan with debts by statements such as, "If you go to Japan, you can earn 300,000 yen a month". Japan has been inviting a lot of foreign students to Japan as part of its "Global Strategy", but there is almost no support for those who actually come to Japan, and the above-mentioned problems have been erupting.
I will not go into detail here, but in addition to the problem of foreign students, there is also the problem of technical intern trainees. These problems are sometimes reported in the news, but perhaps because of the overflow of information, many people are quickly swept away by other information and forget about it, or perhaps they pretend to ignore it. It has been said for a long time that Japan has a full range of services and that life in Japan is much more convenient than in other countries. However, the things that make these services possible have been changing with time. I sincerely hope that we Japanese need to face up to what makes Japanese services and convenience possible, and what we are sacrificing now.
Commentary (Japanese version)
私は普段から注意深く自分を取り巻く社会や住んでいる地域の変化―それは短期的な視点の場合や長期的な視点の場合の両方があります―を観察し、理由を探りたくなります。そして、そこから社会や国の構造に問題が見える場合は、それをテーマにして、他人に訴えたいという欲求で作品を作ることがあります。
まず、この作品の体験プロセスを説明いたします。最初に聴衆の方々に演奏が始まる直前に目隠しをしてもらいます（強制ではないですが、可能な限りしていただきたいと作曲者としては考えております）。つまり、聴衆は視界が塞がれた状態で演奏を聴くことになりますが、舞台上で演奏している（はずの）弦楽オーケストラから聴こえてくる音楽は音量はかなり小さく、和音しかなく、その和音の構成音や長さの変化、和音と和音の間の休符の長さの変化も微細です。そのため、恐らく（こういった状況を楽しむことのできる）聴衆は自然と聴覚以外の感覚が鋭敏になるかと思います。このような非常に静かなホール内に、演奏が始まり少し時間が経過した後、手の空いている管楽器奏者や打楽器奏者などが（作曲者がいれば、作曲者自身も）助演者として舞台袖から音を立てずに入ってき、ホール内の各所へ散らばります。助演者は極力音を立てずにホール内を歩き回る、読書をする、飲食を行う、ゲーム（チェスやボードゲームからゲーム機まで何でも）を興じる、シャボン玉を飛ばす等（但し、ホール側が許可した行為に限ります）、といった通常のクラシックの演奏中のホール内では普通起こりえないことを行い、さらにそういった様子をスマートフォンの（シャッター音が鳴らない）写真アプリで撮影（静止画だけではなく動画も）し、リアルタイムにツイッターやインスタグラムといったSNSに専用のハッシュタグを付けて投稿します。助演者たちはしばらくした後、弦楽オーケストラが演奏を終えるまでの間に、ホール外へ舞台袖から立ち去ります。視界が塞がれている状態の聴衆で、勘の良い方や敏感な方は何かが自分たちの周りで起こっていることにうっすら気づくかもしれませんが、演奏が終わるまでは目隠しを取ることは禁じられているので、具体的には把握できません。そして、聴衆は演奏が終わり休憩中や終演後に能動的にSNSで写真や動画を見ることで、演奏中にホール内で何が起きていたかを知ることとなります。
聴衆が聴こえる音楽は微細な変化しかなく、更に聴衆の視界を塞ぎ、演奏中に起こっていることをリアルタイムで見せず、演奏後にSNSで写真や動画を能動的に見ることによって起こっていたことを把握させようとする、このような作品をなぜ私は作ったのか。それは人々が普段生活して気づきにくいことや、見えていても当たり前だと思って何も考えないこと、さらには私たちの社会がゆっくりと、しかし確実に変化していることに対して、もっと意識を向けて欲しい、敏感になって欲しいと考えているからです。
私は日本という国で長年生きてきましたが、生活に身近な部分がゆっくりと、しかし確実に変化しています。例えば、コンビニエンスストアやファストフード店等でアルバイトとして働いている方々は、私自身が小学生ぐらいだった頃はほとんど日本人でした（私が認識している範囲に限りますが）。そして、中学、高校、大学と私自身の時間が進むにつれて、そのようなお店のアルバイトは日本人から中国や韓国の方々に移り変わっていき、最近では東南アジアやアラブ系の方々に更に移り変わってきている印象があります。作曲当時は20年以上住んできた横浜にある実家に暮らしていましたが、近所に住んでいる外国の方々を見かけることも多くなりました。
このように見えやすい範囲でも外国の方々が働いていらっしゃいますが、実は私たちが普段見えない町から離れた場所、例えば工場（弁当や製品を梱包する工場等）といった場所でも多くの外国の方々が働いています。彼（女）らの多くは留学生です。外国人留学生が増えた要因は、日本が世界に対してより開かれた国へと発展する「グローバル戦略」の一環として、日本政府が2008年に策定した「留学生30万人計画」です。結果として多くの留学生が日本へ来るようになりましたが、貧しい家庭から留学しにくる方々も多くいます。そういった方々は借金をして日本に来るため、借金を返済しつつ、学費も賄わなければならないため、留学生に認められる「週28時間以内」の就労上限を大幅に超えた所謂違法就労をしないと生活が成り立ちません（賃金も安いです）。その結果、ほとんど睡眠時間も儘ならない状態で学校と仕事先の行き来をする生活を送っております。しかし、働かないと学費や寮費を支払わなければならず、支払えなくなれば退学となり、強制帰国となります。更には過剰なシフトや賃金未払いといった問題もあり、不満を言おうとすると、入管に報告すると脅されるということも常套化しています。他にも職場が日本語学校と「提携」している場合があり、職場で働くことが在学の条件となっており、辞めた瞬間に強制退学と強制帰国させられることもあります。日本政府の政策として多くの留学生が来るようになりましたが、実態としては貧しい家庭の方々が「日本に行けば月30万稼げる」等といった文言で騙されて、借金をして来日することが多いです。日本はグローバル戦略として留学生を多く日本に招いてきていますが、実際に日本に来た方々に対しての支援がほとんど無く、上述のような問題が噴出しているのが現状です。
ここでは詳しくは書きませんが、留学生問題以外にも技能実習生の問題もあります。こうした問題は、時々報道はされておりますが、多くの人々は情報が氾濫していているためか、すぐに他の情報に押し流され忘れてしまうか、もしくは見て見ぬふりをしているのかもしれません。日本はサービスが充実しており、生活は他の国々と比べて格段と便利と昔から言われております。しかし、それらを成り立たせているものは時代とともに変化しています。その日本のサービスや便利さを成り立たせているもののかは何か、今現在、何を犠牲にしているのかを私たち日本人はきちんと直視しなければならないと私は考えます。
