We chose the former residence of the former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi located in Gotenba City among the options we found at the information counter in the service area. Mr. Nobusuke Kishi was the most honorable prime minister to me. I didn't know that he had spent his closing years in Gotenba. Japan's first-ever express highway was built half a century ago, and the required time between Gotenba and Tokyo was shortened to only 90 minutes. Additionally, he apparently liked its climate. The following two pictures are of the pamphlet I received at the entrance. I'll show you some of the impressive parts of his residence.
There was nothing extravagant about the entrance, and I felt it had a refined appearance. Following the instructions, we saw his study first. My wife entered the room first and uttered an exclamation of surprise. I quickly understood why she had reacted that way. The furniture layout around the desk resembled that of my study extremely closely. The window in front of me in my study is set to the right out of the way of the sunbeam so that the setting sunbeam does not directly reach my eyes. The window of his study was similar. His desk was L-shaped, which was built from the right front to the left side as you see in the following picture. My desk is connected to the back side and U-shaped, and three times as wide as his' in order to place two computer screens on it, but the fundamental design concept was just the same. In my study, the bookshelves on the wall run from floor to ceiling. At the height of my waist on the bookshelves is a wide rack (depth 30cm and width 300cm) for various items, and this design was just like Mr. Kishi's bookshelves. I was so astonished that his 50-year old study was just like mine.
You see me on a chair in a following picture. The chair was Mr. Kishi's favorite one and he liked viewing his garden sitting on the chair. I was allowed to sit on it, and it was great. The elaborate design, which I wasn't safely able to assume was carved out 50 years ago, was seen everywhere in the residence. The connecting part between the living room and the garden, the device for opening the wall even in the rainy day and the protection system against the cold were fairly similar to my house. It's almost as if the designer of my house has seen this house, I thought.
The lighting on the wall of the living room was the concealed so that the light might not come into the eyes directly. That must have been a novelty 50 years ago. The kitchen was similar too. The house and garden were nice, and you would have been able to enjoy all the seasons in the year.
P.S.
The hardest part of this composition was to find the word "run" in my dictionary. I feel difficulty in such short words like "get", "take", "hold", "put", and so on.
２０１７年 夏休みの記録： 御殿場市、東山旧岸邸にて驚いた件
サービスエリアで観光情報を探し、御殿場市の東山旧岸邸を訪問することにした。岸信介と言えば歴代総理の中で僕が最も尊敬する総理大臣だが、御殿場市で晩年を過ごしたことをこの日まで全く知らなかった。高速道路が開通し、東京まで１時間ほどの距離だったことや御殿場市の気候が気に入っていたらしい。最初の２枚の写真は受付でもらったパンフレット。印象に残った部分の写真をＵＰしていく。
玄関にはけばけばしさはなく、いたって簡素。順路に従って歩いてまず驚いたのが彼の書斎。先に入ったカミさんが驚きの声を上げた。何事かと覗いてみると、デスク周りの配置が僕の書斎に酷似していた。僕の書斎には目に西日が当たらぬようにと窓を太陽からずらして設置しているのだが、この部屋の窓の位置も同様に作られている。机は右前方から左へＬ字型の机。背中側にも机が続き、目の前にパソコンを置くために僕の机の方が面積は３倍くらい大きいが、基本的な設計は同じ。天井から床まで続く本棚の配置も全く同じ。ちょっと本などを置いておくために腰の高さに作り付けの台を本棚に設置しているのだが、これも同じ。自分の部屋だからと凝って便利さを追求して設計したが５０年前の岸元総理の書斎と似ていることに本当に驚いた。
次の写真で座っている椅子は岸元総理が晩年気に入っていた椅子で、これに座って庭を眺めるのが楽しみだったらしい。座らせていただいた。至るところ５０年前の設計とは思えぬほど凝った作りになっているのだが、リビングから庭に出られる構造も我が家にそっくり。雨が降っても戸を開放できるようになっている点まで我が家と同じ。積水ハウスのデザイナーはここに来たことが有るのではと思ったほど。
拙宅は玄関やトイレの壁の照明が目に入らぬようにと間接照明になっているだが、リビングの壁には全く同じ型の照明が採用されていた。５０年前だと斬新な設計だっただろうと容易に推測できた。キッチンも今風で、５０年前だと随分便利だっただろうと思う。家だけでなく、庭も素敵な庭で、春夏秋冬いつでも楽しめるよう、また雪が降っても楽しめるよう、いろいろな工夫があった。
Wow! I love that study! How lovely to have one like that! Did you know that "run" has probably the most definitions of any word in the English language. It has so many meanings, I'm not surprised you had trouble finding it. You used it correctly though, so it was worth the extra effort. :)
Posted by: Peter | Oct 02, 2017 at 04:21 PM