Humanity and Technology in 名古屋

We stayed in Nagoya on Wednesday and Thursday and visited two different theme parks. The first was 明治村 which has a collection of buildings and artifacts from around the Meiji period. I did not expect the museum to be as interesting as it was. There was a house that two famous authors used to live in that I really liked. We were able to go inside and sit down and pretend we lived there for a few seconds. I also really liked the Kitasato Institute because it was founded as a laboratory for the study of infectious diseases. Kitasato studied under Robert Koch and is on one of the yen notes. Some of us also went into a scientific college and sat in a lecture room, which filled me with dread. In the college, there was a chemistry textbook that I took a photo of. While I was trying to think of a topic for this blog, Bridget reminded me of the printing press and the mass production of paper products. I started thinking about how this textbook was not unique at the time it was used, but one of many identical copies.

At Ghibli Park, we were able to see some sketches that would later be animated. For example, we saw the sketches of Chihiro eating and crying. It is crazy how many drawings were needed for just a few seconds of animation. Pictures were だめ so I just found a different sketch online. I think that unlike the old chemistry textbook, Miyazaki’s art is not replicable. Miyazaki surely used some advanced technology to create his movies, but his art just seems so human. It’s interesting to think about how modern technology has, in some aspects, helped us be more unique and human than before. I think that people mostly think about technology as disrupting human nature, especially phones, but if used correctly, technology can obviously enhance human talent and skill. I think that this thought and Miyazaki’s films can be comforting.


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