Shuntaro Tanikawa's nerdy real face talks about his favorite home appliances "It's more interesting than poetry stories" --We how much

"Shuntaro Tanikawa is a geek."

　I heard such a story in the rumors of the wind.Is Tanikawa a poetry?Yes, poetry.

　Shuntaro Tanikawa is now 83 years old.In 1948, his poem was announced at the age of 17, and his debut was written at the age of 21, "2 billion light -years of loneliness."He has continued to write modern poems in words that everyone can understand.He has recently become a "Japanese language textbook person" along with Sakutaro Hagiwara.

　Is such a poetry true a geek?To pursue the truth, on a sunny day of consecutive holidays, I was at Tanigawa's house somewhere in Tokyo.

● Write poetry on MacBook Pro

"This is the one I bought when Palm is gone * 1"

　Tanikawa sits on the sofa and has begun to spread it on a lot of desks.Oh, this is Sony's PDA "CLIE" ... Please wait.First of all, I use a computer to write poetry.

"The main thing I'm using is the MacBook Pro. When I go outside, MacBook Air is a MacBook Air. AIR is linked to the schedule and address book in the cloud. IPOD TOUCH uses a docomo router.I'm reading Aozora Bunko. "

　I'm surprised because it's a cloud or something like a cloud.The router was "L-04D".The reason I use the iPod touch is "I don't like smartphones because they have too much functions."

"I used to use PALM in the past. Because the address book and the schedule were also important, I used the PC and data in sync. It is not different now."

　Mr. Tanikawa says that he often writes poems while on the Internet.Really 83 years old?I don't think it's true, but I don't do it like Monst or Pazdora.

"What, what?"

　I'm sorry, it's a game.It's about a game that a young child plays.

"Ah, a game, I don't play the game. I thought I was enviable when Shigeito Itoi made" MOTHER ".What is it? "

　While I was relieved, but I didn't think the reason was 83 years old ... I understood the reason why I was called a geek.(By the way, after the interview, I went to buy a new MacBook. I wanted a space gray 512GB, but it was sold out.)

* 1 Palm is a PDA with the same name OS released by Palm in the United States in 1996.It pioneered the smartphone era, as if Apple's NEWTON was further reduced.Palm was later acquired by Hewlett -Packard.

● I was stupid by the editor and switched to a Mac

　Tanigawa who likes new things from the root.I heard that it was originally quick to put out a word processor and computer.

"It's been the first time that" Shoin "came out for manuscript writing. Sharp bought a computer that was just sold without knowing it. The one whose cassette tape is still in memory. The first one.I didn't get a job because I could only save a few hundred kilobytes for the memory, because the display was one or two lines. "

　But there was an image of writing a poem with a pen on the paper, is that different?

"I don't really like writing letters on paper. Until then, I wrote it on a manuscript paper with a pencil, but the paper pressure was strong and the paper broke."

　Well, it's not a poem because it's handwriting.Anyway ...

　The note -type Shoin, which I showed, still turned on the power.The floppy read on an external drive had a diary in addition to poems.It seems that he brought it when he went to the United States and overseas and made a diary.

　So, did you use it easily even in the age of a personal computer?

"I used an old Mac guy because I like design. A guy with beautiful colors (IBOOK G3). But it is very inconvenient, using Toshiba's Dyna Book, Sony from there.I moved to VAIO. So I used Windows all the time, but I was fooled by Kaoru Yamada * 2 and switched to Mac. "

　I see ... is the reason for making Mac because it was stupid?

"But I still buy various things with Sharp. Don't crush it."

* 2 Kaoru Yamada is a former Iwanami Shoten editor, and is a best friend of Tanigawa.He is also known for his advanced project, such as working on a multi-media "Iwanami EP CD-ROM" at Iwanami Shoten.Co -authored with Mr. Tanikawa, "Shuntaro Tanikawa, who wrote poetry like this, talks about poetry and life" (Nanarok).

● My hobby was a radio -making tester

　In fact, Tanigawa -san, electric lovers have not changed since childhood.Especially radio.

"I was an electrical boy and wanted to be an electrician. The first radio started during World War II was the first time. I'm happy to be able to make a vacuum tube radio and listen to the broadcast."

　He was looking forward to hearing foreign languages from shortwave radio.When the song "Walching Matilda" was heard from Radio and Australia, he said "Oh".

"I didn't have any supplies because it was a war, but the structure of the vacuum tube radio was simple. Because three vacuum tubes were only in a wooden box, I'm looking forward to searching for a condenser.Don't go to ask, "Isn't it?"

　It is said that Mr. Tanigawa, who rarely wants things, was unusually applied to his mother.

"After the war, when I was evacuating in Kyoto, my mother bought a tester at Shimadzu Seisakusho. Because I was an electric boy, I was a waste, and the tester was a necessity."

　Tanigawa -san stood up from a chair, did it in the back of the room, and brought me happily."I just bought it in the UK."

　If you show it, it's a voltmeter.I said, "You can try it a little," so I put it on a nearby outlet plug.The tip of the needle with a solid voltage 100V was trembling a little."The body uses bake lights."

"It doesn't make sense to have it."

　Uh, uh.Well, that's right.

　Time has passed, and the electric boy eventually leaves the radio.Since the age of transistor radio, which uses semiconductor elements, the circuit has become more complicated and it has become difficult to remodel it with his own hands.To put it simply, it became difficult to hack.

"It was fun to solder, not the theory."

　And the electric boy started writing poetry and ran on the path as a poet.If you were on the Transista Radio path, Tanikawa might have eventually planned a product in a home appliance manufacturer.

　However, when there is a radio lover flame, it burns again.

● Buy radio or 200 hardcore collectors

"Is it around the early 1970s? I've finally been able to afford my life, so I can buy a radio that I longed for and couldn't buy."

　At that time, Tanigawa's work was in great shape.His work has increased so much, such as translating overseas works such as Kenha Hacla, Swimy, and Peanuts (Snoopy) co -authored picture books with Makoto Wada.

　The splurge of such a selling writer was still a radio.

"There is a used radio in the United States in a general store in Shimokitazawa, and I was buying it. When I went abroad, there are shops that collect New York in the United States, Milan in Italy, and London in London."

　Tanigawa talks while sparkling his eyes.During the heyday, 130 radios were decorated at home.That's a standing mania ... but is it so fun, radio?

"The design is interesting. The radio in the 1940s and 1950s is the most rich in design. I also liked communication receivers * 3.Some are close to

　Mr. Tanigawa, a radio collector, has a special memory.

"There was a communication receiver called" Harriklaftars ". I wanted it, but I didn't really get it. After Shuji Terayama * 4 died, I was surprised that it was a surprise.It was. I never said that I liked this radio. "

　What a chance.But that's the person who understands the family and editors ...

"I didn't have it. No, I'm a good person at all. There are a lot of wireless groups, but I didn't want to enter that place."

　Mr. Tanikawa, who continued to collect radio quietly alone.However, in the 2000s, the fever quickly cooled down.

"The old radio has stopped appearing in the market. If you buy it, you have to go to the Internet. That wouldn't be interesting. I enjoyed going to a messy store, so I stopped buying it.

　In 2005, he donated a radio to Kyoto Institute of Technology."I have to be inexperienced," she said, she donated all of her in total.He is now spending his days listening to Internet radio on iTunes.

"It's gone now, but I heard New York Police Radio on iTunes. That was interesting. I don't know what I was saying."

* 3 The communication receiver is a wide band receiver used for amateur radio.* 4 Shuji Terayama was the president of the theater laboratory, the ceiling pier, and did various jobs, including poet, novelists, lyricists, and essays.His representative songs are "Die in the countryside".He died in 1983.

● Something like a voice heard from a distance

　If you notice, you'll be about an hour without listening to the poem at all.Mr. Tanikawa has been pulling out one after another, and he doesn't stop.

"It's more interesting than when talking about poetry."

　No, if you say that, you will get angry ...

　However, it seems that Mr. Tanigawa has lost what he wants recently.I am buying only a Balmuda fan and a blue air purifier "650E".He is interested in home appliances with high design, and the information home appliances seem to be "not so intriguing."

　The poem itself is still the same.

"I'm interested in new technologies and have done something new, but I guess it's a plateau. Recently, I've done apps and e -books, but I'm interested in paper.I'm sorry. "

　When digital spreads, analog becomes fresh.

　While digital data is on the path of high resolution in the music world, it feels similar that analog records are growing.

"In the first place, poetry is the ultimate analog. Because it is written in analogy (specific)."

　The story that Mr. Tanikawa loved a vacuum tube radio seemed to be connected somewhere.Radio, electronic circuits, wireless communications ──It seems that there is an element that seems to have nothing to do with poetry at all, forming Tanigawa's world view.

"It may be that you like the sounds and voices you hear from a distance away from everyday life.So it may be a "distant voice". "

　Mr. Tanikawa wrote poems about the radio in the poem collection "Seibachi Raz" (1993), but I feel that the appearance has changed suddenly.Finally, let me introduce it to an interview with a great "new favorite poetry".

Night radio

I have a soldering trowel in my hand, and the vacuum tube that plays the radio of the filter made in 1949 is warm, but I am stubbornly silent, but I am still fascinated by the fresh body odor.

I wonder why my ears try to listen more than my abilities, but now I feel like I can hear everything too much, so I feel like a nostalgic voice of the broken radio.

I don't know which is more important to play with the radio or write poetry. I want to go back to the boy who had no connection with poetry and walk on a dusty gravel road, but I forgotBoth women and friends as if there is no time

I just want to hear more, I should hear more, I have just breathed and listened. The entry clouds spring up in the sky of each summer.

Contrary to the summary of living in the story

Shuntaro Tanikawa's new publication information and radio information: "Seichibachi Raz", which contains radio poems, is on sale for 1667 yen, and the latest photo poems "Good night gods" (photo: Kawashima Kotori) are on sale for 2484 yen.Tanigawa's beautiful radio is exhibited at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and Sharb University.When you go nearby, please drop in.

■ Related site Shuntaro Tanikawa.com

Apology and Correction: At the first appearance, there was an error in the name of the Kyoto Institute of Technology.We apologize and correct to the people concerned.(May 13)