In my previous visit to NYC, I received an interesting advice. It was like “Why

In my previous visit to NYC, I received an interesting advice. It was like “Why don’t you market yourself more aggressively? Not talking about expensive advertisement, but I don’t know why you do not ask others to spread what you do?” Then, I replied, “Well… as a Japanese, I feel a bit uncomfortable asking others for a favor…”. Their reply was eye-opening one to be, “Yes, we understand you are a Japanese, but you are in the US and trying to share Your Sashiko to the people outside of your culture, right? So, you should follow the western culture ‘in order to share what you are passionate about’. It is okay to ask”. It shook my brain. Yes. It is very important to respect the origin of Japanese culture in Sashiko. However, in order to share the core, behaving as a Japanese in a comfortable zone won’t expand its possibility. It is also important to respect the culture to share the Japanese-ness. So, please help us to spread the words – Japanese Sashiko is here.
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先日のNYC滞在時に尊敬している方から頂いたアドバイスがあります。「お前はなんでそんなに謙虚なんだ？気を使うんだ？」と。「なかなか厚かましくなれなくて……」という返事に対して、「個人としては謙虚な淳が好きだけど、”刺し子を広める”という活動を米国でする以上、謙虚はオススメできない。日本の文化を米国の土俵で伝えるんだろう？どっちの土俵に立ってるのか考えてみな……」と。（若い）投資銀行家を教える側にいた方の言葉。引退された後も数々の企業の顧問をされてる方からのアドバイスにぐうの音も出ませんでした。もしかしたら、「日本らしさ」は、僕の「できない言い訳」だったのかもしれません。「日本らしさ」を伝えることが目標であって、「日本らしく」振る舞い続けるのは確かに土俵が違うという捉え方もできるのです。いやはや。本当、俺の武器はこの「出会いと運」です。多くの方に支えられて今があります。
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2019-09-13 16:09:51

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