くずなら好きですか？
What does it mean to "like" something?
文字数 1,620字
この質問に考えてほしいです。
I would like you to think about this question.
例えば日本に生まれた私たちは、ガンダムや鉄道などのことが好きで、なければいけないもので自分のアイデンティティだしと感じます。万が一自分が別の国に生まれて、上記の好きなことはただ関係があまりない外国のことになって、もう好きではなかったら、『好き』とはなんでしょう？
Suppose that we who were born in Japan and like things such as Gundam or trains, for example, feeling as if they are an indispensable part of our identity, were to be born again into a different country as an exactly same person. By then, it is quite easy to imagine that things we like as mentioned above would become mere unrelatable pastimes from foreign culture which we did not like them anymore. Then what exactly does it mean to “like” something?
状況的なことで、少し経験が変われば、自分は何かを好きなのは豹変しますか？または自分はどうなっても、好きなことは決まっていますか？
Is it situational that with just a slight shift in our experience, it would impact greatly on what we like? Or that no matter who we are, what we like would have always been the same?
あー！好きって環境の影響もあるねと普通に私たちは認めますが、それは問題です。
At this point we might say that “well, what we like are also affected by environment, of course. anyone knows that!” but that is where the problem lies.
好きなことは小さなことからお風呂みたいに、なければ人生を想像できないのもあります。しかし、もし私たちは日本の代わりに他の国に生まれて、そこでお風呂の文化がなかくて、生涯お風呂のことを考えない自分は、まだ自分ですか？What we like can range from tidbits to something we cannot imagine to live without such as our way of taking a bath (ofuro). However, if instead of Japan, the country where we were born instead does not bathe the way we do, then would we who never wished for such way of bathing during the lifetime, still be considered the same person who we are right now?
人のアイデンティティは『好きなこと』です。
A person’s identity can be seen from what they “like.”
せめて、将来の夢、したい仕事は何だと聞かれたら、その『好きなこと』ではないですか？
At least when we are being asked about our dreams and the job we would like to do in the future, those are what we “like,” aren’t they?
好きな人や好きな芸能人なども、ある程度自分の存在の意味になります。そう言っても、例えば私たちは何世も生まれ変わってもまた同じ人が好きだというより、その『好き』は自分の今の『立場』の考え方かもしれません。
That is the same with people or actors and musicians we like, in the way that they become the meaning of our existence to an extent. Even so, if we were to be born again for many lifetimes from now on instead of implying that we should like the same persons unchangeably, that “like” is probably only from the “standpoint” right now that affects how we think.
好きになる人のことみたいに、前回『なぜ王子様と出会わない？』(https://kamakurayuuki.hatenablog.com/entry/2024/01/20/090750)で少しメンションしましたが、相手はどのくらい自分の対象になるのは『比較的』で、自分が裕福になり、見た目がもっといいなら標準が変わって、今の理想的な人も変わります。
Similar to when we fall in love with someone as mentioned previously in the essay “Why haven’t I met my prince yet?” we feel others’ attractiveness “relatively”, that if we become wealthier or have better looks our standard would change, and whom we feel is ideal for us would be different.
仕事もそうです。
That is the same with our occupations too.
今自分は役割がある尊敬に値する職業、だれかが失礼なことを少し言っても怒っているのは、もともと参加した自分はどの職業でも選べる立場で、もっと楽で給料がいい仕事があっても否定して参加しましたか、当時比較的に相応しい選択肢がないですか。自分の『好きな』仕事になったのはどれくらい自由に選べるだろうか？
When we get irritated as someone disregards our respectable jobs even to the slightest degree, did we who applied for such jobs apply from the standpoint that we were could choose any jobs we like, refusing all other jobs even if they were more relaxed and paid more? Or at the time there were no other suitable choices for us? When a job becomes the job that we “like,” how much freely do we choose to begin with?
この話題に、私は本当に詳しいし、だれも否定してほしくない例えがあります。
I also wish to give an example regarding the topic, which I can assure I have a lot of experience with.
メディアに日本が好きになるのは大体先進国の方の描写ですが、『好き』で旅したいだけではなく、永住に泊まりたいのは過半数先進国ではない方で、少しその『好き』を説明したいです。
It is often being portrayed in media that those who like Japan are people from the developed countries. Nevertheless, those who do not only “like” but want to stay here as long as they live are mostly people who are not from the developed countries, and that I would like to elaborate on this “like” a little more.
自分の国に生活水準がなかなかいけなければ、日本だけではなく、もっといいと見られる他の国があったら、人はその国の文化などが『好き』と言いやすくなります。
If the standard of living of one’s country is unsatisfactory, it would be easier for them to say that they “like” other country’s culture which they consider to be more developed, which is the case not only with Japan but with other countries as well.
熱心だしアイデンティティになるかもしれないその『好意』は、引っ越したいまでです。ですが、もし先進国とそうではない国に『引っ越したいか』の調査をすれば両方の割合の差を見たら、生活水準の問題がなかったら、純粋に文化などが『好き』だとわかります。
That “fondness” may be so fervent and become the person’s identity, to the point that they want to move there. Still, if there is going to be a survey about “do you want to move there?” conducting in both developed countries and not so developed countries, and that we are to compare the disparity in percentage points, we would understand that in case there are no problems regarding standard of living, how many would sincerely “like” the culture or such.
要は人は生活水準などのことである国に憧れても、まだ純粋に好きになると感じて、だれも動機が気づかないです。
The point is that even if a person becomes fond of a country because of living standard problems, they would still feel that they like with pure heart without any outside influence, and no one would ever realize where their motivation comes from.
もし日本は秩序がよくなくて、変態だらけ（今はもうそうかもしれませんが）野蛮の国になったら、今まで色んな芸術が憧れると言う人は大変減ると思います。
If Japan is not safe and orderly, but is a backwater country full of perverts (perhaps the latter is the situation right now), it is likely that people who say they love Japanese arts and culture would become significantly fewer.
しかし、それは嫌なことより、私たちもそうではないかと。
Yet, even if that sounds disturbing, isn’t it the same with us too?
何かを好きになるのは固定的に性格から、もし自分が違うところに生まれたらまだ同じことが好きというより、よくは流動的なことです。
To like something, rather than it being a result of personality that does not change which would stay the same no matter where we were born, it is very fluid.
自分は日本が好き、日本を守るべきと言うのは、思考実験として数百キロ離れて隣国に生まれたら、同じことをまだ言いますか？そうしなければ、今自分は何かが好きと感じるのは、必要性があるのではないですか？
As a thought experiment, if we who say we love Japan and wish to protect Japan at all costs, were to be born a few hundred kilometers away in a neighboring country, would we still say the same thing? If not so, isn’t it that what we feel we like at the moment, a product of some necessity?
流れるような『好き』と考え方は迷惑になるかもしれないのは、例えば好きな人のことみたいに、私たちのその気持ちは純粋で、新海誠さんの作品になれるくらい何世もまた生まれ変わっても同じ人を好きになると信じたいです。
What might be uncomfortable with the idea of “liking” being fluid is that, with whom we like for example, we want to believe that our feelings are pure, and that we would love the same person in all lives we are going to be born from now on, as being somewhat portrayed in Shinkai Makoto’s themes in animes.
そう本当ではないなら、なぜこの世界に数えられない文化がありますが、いつもドイツだし、フランスなどの文化が好きと言う私たちは、彼らの国の優秀さが好きか、単に文化が好きか、と考えられます。
If that is not true, we should also think that why, for all the cultures in this world, we always find our loves in French or German culture? And that we feel so because of these countries are advanced in some ways? Or we just like their cultures and nothing else?
ヨーロッパの国々の文化は外の人が見分けられないのは多いですが。
It is worth noting that cultures of many countries in Europe do not seem different to outsiders much.
