平和な日本；SMAP解散騒動
NYTでSMAPの解散が報じられている。
日本国民への衝撃を知るには、Beatlesの解散を思い起こせとまで言っている。
SMAPはいまや世界的な存在である。
日本の国会で日本経済への影響に対する懸念が語られ、安倍首相にまでコメントが求められた。日本は平和そのものだ。安倍首相は日本人が平和な生活を送っていることに満足しているのだろう。
SMAPの解散を惜しみつつ、一方で産業の新陳代謝の進まないことを憂える国会議員はどんなことを考えているののだろうか。
An Aging Boy Band Calls It Quits, but Japan Can’t Let Go
TOKYO — For nearly three decades, millions of Japanese have clamored for their every album, lined up with breathless anticipation for their concerts and gathered on Monday nights for their hit television show.
Now, the nation is awash with anguish over word that SMAP — Japan’s longest-running boy band, if it can still be called that with its youngest member pushing 40 — is splitting up.
The news has dominated newspaper headlines and television talk shows since the band’s announcement this month. Even the mayor of Tokyo and two members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet have weighed in. One said he was worried about the effect on the Japanese economy, the world’s third-largest.
“We will not let them stop!” a grieving fan wrote in one of more than a dozen petitions on change.orgpleading with the aging heartthrobs to remain together. “If we let them go and disband, it means Japan is finished.”
To understand the bedlam unfolding here, think of the Beatles’ breaking up, the airing of the final episode of “Seinfeld” and the “conscious uncoupling” of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin all rolled into one — the end of an era on the Japanese cultural landscape.
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The public apology was viewed in nearly seven million households, and even the prime minister, Mr. Abe, was moved to comment, telling a parliamentary committee that “the group will remain intact in response to many fans’ wishes, which is good.”
Mr. Abe has yet to address the breakup.
