２ Ｍａｙ， Ｋａｓｕｍｉ Ａｓａｋｕｒａ
文字数 3,015文字
I’ve been watching the Gion Sakurai Channel every day—the YouTube channel of Ken’ichirō Sakurai, who is one half of a comedy duo called Gion.
I don’t remember exactly how I came across his channel, but I’m sure I could trace it back to watching videos of hoarders’ houses being cleaned. I love seeing these homes, overflowing with trash, gradually getting cleaner and cleaner, and I’m subscribed to several of these kinds of channels. Because of this, videos of people leading minimalist lifestyles began popping up in my recommended list, and I think his series,
He lives in a one-room apartment measuring six tatami mats—that’s about ten square meters. A bed, humidifier, red Yogibo Mini bean bag and a low, white dining table are the only things in his living space. He seems to have a TV, but this isn’t shown in his videos. His light-colored floor is sparkling clean, and his narrow kitchen area is also neat and tidy.
His Alexa greets him and tells him what day it is, his iRobot Roomba comes out from under his bed and sets to work, cleaning the floor without a single complaint, and his blue T-Fal kettle boils the water. Then he has his Cuble, a somewhat cute washer-dryer, and his Hot Cook cooking pot that he likes to call “Sensei,” and that will cook for him if he puts in the ingredients. Living together with all his appliances, Sakurai’s daily routine is turned into a series of very short videos. Most of the audio is limited to the sounds of his appliances working away, and Sakurai chewing or moving around.
Dining, washing, cleaning, a 5K walk. He does almost the same things every day. Of course, there is some variation. The humidifier is put away when the humidity reaches a certain percentage, and there was also a time when he harvested some pea shoots. But the biggest change is probably how the number of days he goes out to work has gradually become fewer and fewer. Lately, he seems to be at home all the time.
But in his videos, he goes about the same routine every day with a calm look on his face. Cook gyoza, eat dessert, put the Roomba to work.
This kind of video, during these times, has been really helpful—at least for me. Because I get to see a “normal” day.
Translated by Lauren Barrett/Arranged by TranNet KK
Kasumi Asakura
Born in 1960. Won the 37th Hokkaido Shimbun Literature Award in 2003 for “
I don’t remember exactly how I came across his channel, but I’m sure I could trace it back to watching videos of hoarders’ houses being cleaned. I love seeing these homes, overflowing with trash, gradually getting cleaner and cleaner, and I’m subscribed to several of these kinds of channels. Because of this, videos of people leading minimalist lifestyles began popping up in my recommended list, and I think his series,
35-Year-Old Single
Entertainer,
was among them. Sakurai is quite the minimalist.He lives in a one-room apartment measuring six tatami mats—that’s about ten square meters. A bed, humidifier, red Yogibo Mini bean bag and a low, white dining table are the only things in his living space. He seems to have a TV, but this isn’t shown in his videos. His light-colored floor is sparkling clean, and his narrow kitchen area is also neat and tidy.
His Alexa greets him and tells him what day it is, his iRobot Roomba comes out from under his bed and sets to work, cleaning the floor without a single complaint, and his blue T-Fal kettle boils the water. Then he has his Cuble, a somewhat cute washer-dryer, and his Hot Cook cooking pot that he likes to call “Sensei,” and that will cook for him if he puts in the ingredients. Living together with all his appliances, Sakurai’s daily routine is turned into a series of very short videos. Most of the audio is limited to the sounds of his appliances working away, and Sakurai chewing or moving around.
Dining, washing, cleaning, a 5K walk. He does almost the same things every day. Of course, there is some variation. The humidifier is put away when the humidity reaches a certain percentage, and there was also a time when he harvested some pea shoots. But the biggest change is probably how the number of days he goes out to work has gradually become fewer and fewer. Lately, he seems to be at home all the time.
But in his videos, he goes about the same routine every day with a calm look on his face. Cook gyoza, eat dessert, put the Roomba to work.
This kind of video, during these times, has been really helpful—at least for me. Because I get to see a “normal” day.
Translated by Lauren Barrett/Arranged by TranNet KK
Kasumi Asakura
Born in 1960. Won the 37th Hokkaido Shimbun Literature Award in 2003 for “
Komadori-san
no
koto
” (About Komadori-san), the 72nd Shōsetsu Gendai New Face Award in 2004 forKimo
,yakeru
(Heart, Aches), the 30th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers in 2009 forTamura
wa
mada
ka
(Still waiting for Tamura), and the 32nd Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize in 2019 forHiraba
no
tsuki
(Moon on a flat ground). Her works includeTasogaredoki
ni
mitsuketa
mono
(What was found during the twilight),Mancho
(High tide), andBoku
wa
asahi
(I am Asahi), among others.
