Cutting-edge technology has no "meaning"

My junior high and high school classmate Mari Yoshihara (see past articles: No. 105 / No. 171 ), who has appeared in this column several times, has had her book Dear Lenny: Leonard Bernstein and the Story of Postwar Japan (Alte Publishing) selected for the Music Pen Club Music Award, the Japan Essayist Club Award, and the Hayato Kawai Story Award.

Leonard Bernstein was a world-renowned conductor and composer of the musical West Side Story. This nonfiction work unravels the vast amount of material related to this famous musician from the perspective of "love," weaving together the macro story of cultural policy and the music business in Japan and the United States with micro episodes of personal exchanges through letters to create a magnificent drama. The writing is so compelling that you can read this 400-page masterpiece in one sitting.

I was deeply impressed and enjoyed reading it, but to be completely honest, my impression can be summed up in one word: "I don't know."

There are several possible reasons for this. One is that I am not very knowledgeable about music and don't know much about Bernstein. A long time ago, I bought a CD of Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras's version of West Side Story, but that's about it.

Another reason is that I'm the type of person who can't look directly at other people's expressions of love. I'm not even good with love scenes in fiction, so non-fiction is even more raw. When Mr. Yoshiwara discovered the series of letters in the library, he was overwhelmed by the intensity of love emanating from the text and was instantly drawn into that world, but I don't feel that way.

And perhaps the biggest factor was that I couldn't quite grasp the concept of "love that does not seek an exclusive one-on-one relationship" depicted in this book. The book also depicts a lover who becomes jealous and angry at Bernstein's behavior, and I can relate to that feeling much more.

I just can't seem to grasp the main theme of this drama, which is "love" that transcends jealousy and doesn't seek an exclusive one-on-one relationship. Of course, there are things that stick with me, but I don't know how to digest them, and I don't even know what it is that I don't understand.

But maybe that's okay. According to historian Kinya Abe, "understanding" means "being changed by it." Simply knowing the historical facts in a chronology does not mean "understanding." Only when one's innermost feelings resonate with those facts and one finds "meaning" in them does one truly "understand." I decided to look forward to the possibility that this vague reading experience might one day become material for "understanding" something.

Now then.

The service we provide, Indwelling Creators, has a major distinguishing feature: it accompanies you on this journey toward "understanding." Whether it's cutting-edge technologies like AI or cultured meat, or everyday items like tomato juice or toothbrushes, they hold no "meaning" unless they have a relationship with people.

Only when people interpret and judge them do they acquire "meaning." This is a subjective act involving human values, one that cannot be reached through objective analysis alone. Moreover, it's a highly sophisticated endeavor requiring the precise articulation of the new "connections" (between people and things) discovered in the process.

It may seem surprising, but many companies and organizations "know" the products and services they offer, yet they don't truly "understand" them. For example, Starbucks has taken the world by storm with its "third place" concept of connection. But consider this: Japanese coffee shops have long served as "third places" where people read newspapers, enjoy conversation, smoke cigarettes, and sometimes even take naps.

Why then did these Japanese coffee shops, without ever expanding overseas, struggle? Because they didn't truly "understand" what they were doing. They knew customers came to freely spend time there while buying coffee, but they never considered the "meaning" behind it.

That's right. "Understanding" is truly difficult. That's precisely why experienced creators embark on a journey filled with the unknown, refining hypotheses along the way.

New "connections" between people and things are, in other words, "concepts." Indwelling Creators helps drive sustainable innovation by creating new "meaning."

【For inquiries about "Indwelling Creators," please contact us here】
opeq78@dentsu.co.jp Contact: Yamada

 

Now then.

Mr. Yoshiwara, who usually lives in Hawaii, was coming to Tokyo for an award ceremony and lecture, so my friends from junior high and high school gathered at my house. The idea was to celebrate his award and discuss "Dear Lenny: Leonard Bernstein and the Story of Postwar Japan," but the conversation quickly turned to our usual nonsense.

We talked about our dissatisfaction with school at the time, who we thought was cool and who was beautiful back then, and so on. We laughed and laughed, and it was a lot of fun, but it was a parade of stories that I can't remember at all. Still, it was a night that made me realize how grateful I am to have friends.

Please, help yourself!