Obasute's Hero
姨捨駅はいろんな所から注目されている：
＊日本三大車窓
＊日経新聞の「行って見たい駅」の全国第二
＊同じ日経新聞の「月見スポット」の全国第一
偶然ですか？偶然かもしれません。
しかし、よく見たら、
＊入り口の上に新しい手彫りの「姨捨」看板、
＊駅舎のホーム側に地元の版画家、森貘郎さんの作品、
＊ホームの庭が丁寧に手がかけられて、竜の髭で「オバステ」って書いてある、
＊ホームにシンボルとなっている俳句投函箱がある、
＊道側の自動販売機は派手な赤い色じゃなくて、駅舎に合わせて白い色、
＊駅舎の中で地元の伝説の説明版や古い写真など展示してある。
＊など等
＊そして、無人駅なのにいつ行ってもトイレが綺麗だし、蜘蛛の巣が取ってある。
町興しの運動は大体２種類：
１．会議の為の会議をやり続けて、ああでこうで言っているばかりな人（私かな？）
２．日々で地味で出来る事からやっていく人
JRで働いてはるOさんがその２．の方です。自分の時間でボランティアで上記の様な行動をしている。この写真を載せたら、Oさんにきっと怒られちゃうけど、姨捨駅の注目はただの偶然じゃない事、皆さんに認識して頂くのは大事だと思います。そして、皆様も自分の努力でこんなような効果を出せれる。
会議も大事だけど、トイレ掃除や蜘蛛の巣取りも大事だと。
Nearby Obasute Station is getting a lot of attention. It is known as one of Japan's Top 3 Views from the Train Window, Nikkei Newspaper's #2 "Station We Want to See", and the same Nikkei Newspaper's #1 Moon-Viewing Spot.
Is that all just by dumb luck?
Or is there more to it than that?
If you look closely at the station, you'll notice:
*There is a new hand-carved sign above the entrance,
*There is a painting by local artist Mori Bakuro on the platform side of the station building,
*The platform's garden is well-taken care of,
*There is a haiku post box on the platform,
*The vending machine out front isn't a glaring red color, but is painted white to match the building,
*Inside the building are some classic pictures as well as explanations of local legends,
*etc., etc.,
*And, despite being an un-manned station, the bathroom is always clean and the spiderwebs are always swept away.
There are basically 2 types of people that do "civic improvement":
1. Those that have meetings for the sake of meetings and talk, talk, talk (like me?)
2. Those that start with the things they can do on a daily basis.
JR's O-san is of the 2nd type. He comes on his own time as a volunteer to work on the station. He's going to be upset that I'm posting his picture in public, but I think it's important that the public know that Obasute's popularity isn't just dumb luck. And that everyone can make a similar difference in their own town.
Civic improvement meetings are important, but cleaning toilets and wiping away spiderwebs is too.
