Off-record : 14歳からの社会学 —これからの社会を生きる君に

In Tokyo Jimbochô, not far from the book megastore Sanseido, along the Susuzuran street, there is a smaller bookstore under the name Tokyodo-shoten. The advantage of Tokyodo-shoten over Sanseido is that this bookshop operates a selection, which makes books on display more enticing. It is one of the reason why I bumped by chance onto 14歳からの社会学 —これからの社会を生きる君に by Shinji Miyadai. Shinji Miyadai is one of the coproducer of the Internet TV weekly debate over Videonews.com. If you are into advanced Japanese, this weekly show is a must see, or heard, as you can get an audio version only if needed. Videonews.com is unique in Japan. The show is visually bland, so much that the QuickTime audio version transfered as an mp3 file on an iPod is plenty enough. What makes the show called マル激トーク・オン・ディマンド unique is less the format than the content. On average, 2:30 of talk without a single advertisement, on subjects that are analyzed as no other audio/video media would dare in Japan. It can be very deep, especially when Mr. Miyadai talks using quite sophisticated vocabulary. The opinions expressed are not your standard brain washing bland propaganda. That's why it makes the program a requisite visit for the grown-up advanced learner of Japanese. I can also serve as challenging content for interpretation training. I have just started reading the book. As the title exposes, it is a book that talks about basic social concerns especially geared at a readership of 14 years old teens. The style is very direct, casual talking. It talks for instance right from the beginning about the gap between the idealistic "みんななかよしい"　standard propaganda that pervades schooling of early age, and the reality of daily life that confront the dogma. Shinji Miyadai reminds me to some extend to French philosopher Bernard Stiegler. Mr. Stiegler released exactly this year a book named "Prendre soin de la jeunesse et des générations" (taking care of the youth and the generations), an excellent book that stresses the need to take indeed care of the past and the future as well through their representative living people. Shinji Miyadai, by writing purposely for a category of young people for whom there is absolutely nothing available as far as serious reading material is concerned is putting care into action. I wish French philosopher would dare do the same.