10 | Opening up Kaiwai-gaku (Neighborhood Studies) | The basic formula of Kaiwai-gaku that expresses the conditions for latent value to grow into culture
Just because people gather does not mean a neighborhood is born.
Creating an attractive place does not necessarily mean people will return.
Even if history and culture are rich, they can be lost without anyone noticing. Conversely, there are places without any special facilities where people talk, engage, and return again and again.
Where does that difference come from?
In previous articles, we have thought about starting from the feeling of 'something is interesting,' having a sense of the unknown, recording signs before they become news, making interpretations, leaving relationships after gathering people, keeping a distance that is not too close, places one wants to return to, and the danger of gravity turning into pressure.
At first glance, these may seem like separate topics.
However, there is a question common to all of them.
Under what conditions does something not yet called value grow into a culture that attracts people?
The structure of this is expressed as a single map, which is the basic formula of Kaiwai-gaku.
The basic formula of Kaiwai-gaku
In Kaiwai-gaku, the cultural attraction that makes people return, talk, engage, protect, and want to pass things on to the next person is expressed by the following formula.
F = G × (PV × S × C) / R²
Each symbol has the following meaning.
PV: Potential Value
S: Sensibility
C: Cultivation
R: Relational Distance
G: Contextual Field
F: Kaiwai Gravity
However, this is not a calculation formula for substituting actual numerical values to find an answer.
It is neither a way to grade regions or activities, nor a way to determine superiority or inferiority.
What is being overlooked?
Who is noticing it?
How is it being shaped into a form that allows for engagement?
Are the relationships too close, or too distant?
What kind of history, systems, and culture are at work?
It is a map for observation to ensure these things are not missed.
PV | Value does not look like value from the start
Latent value refers to things that already exist but are not yet fully recognized as value.
It is not just old buildings or cultural assets.
Habits that someone is quietly continuing.
Names that are only understood within a specific region.
Places with no determined use.
Memories that remain between people.
Scenery that would be a little sad if it disappeared.
A sense of discomfort that is hard to explain.
Such things can also become latent value.
What is important is that latent value is not a treasure that exists objectively from the beginning.
For whom is it a value?
For whom is it a burden?
What should be preserved, and what should be changed?
It must be verified within relationships and contexts.
The person who discovers the value does not necessarily own that value.
S | The sensitivity to receive 'something that catches my interest'
Even if latent value exists, if no one notices it, a relationship will not begin.
That is where sensitivity becomes necessary.
Sensitivity is not just the ability to spot trends quickly.
Physical reactions.
Memories.
Nostalgia.
A sense of discomfort.
An inexpressible snag in one's mind.
The daily life that is changing little by little, even though no one is making an issue of it.
It is the power to hold onto such subtle signs without discarding them based on whether they are immediately useful.
However, what you are drawn to is not necessarily valuable to everyone.
Sensitivity requires ethics.
Are you forcing your own 'likes' onto others?
Are you consuming someone's life or memories for the sake of entertainment?
Sensitivity is the power to notice, but at the same time, it is the power to doubt your own perspective.
C | Cultivating discovered value into a form that allows for engagement
Simply noticing latent value is not enough to create a neighborhood.
Sometimes it ends with just one person finding it interesting.
That is where cultivation becomes necessary.
Investigate.
Record.
Listen to people's stories.
Establish a tentative perspective.
Give it a name.
Exhibit it.
Host a small event.
Create an entry point for others to get involved.
Make it a repeatable method.
Shape it so it can be passed on to the next person.
In Kaiwai-gaku, these actions are called Cultivation.
We use the term 'cultivation' rather than 'development' because we are not producing value from scratch, but rather preparing conditions for growth without destroying the existing soil or relationships.
If the person doing the cultivating stands out too much, the value becomes their own personal work.
If you complete everything, others become mere spectators.
Good cultivation leaves room for others to bring in their own meanings.
R | Distance is not necessarily better when it is closer
In the formula, relational distance is placed in the denominator.
Generally, as distance decreases, relationships become stronger.
Knowing of someone's existence.
Speaking to them.
Interacting once.
Returning a few times.
Telling someone else about it.
Thus, the closer the distance, the easier it is for neighborhood gravity to be born.
However, R is not something that should simply be made smaller.
Relationships that are too close create participation pressure and peer pressure.
Hard to decline.
Hard to take a break.
Hard to express a different opinion.
Hard to return once you have left.
At that point, gravity turns into pressure.
Conversely, if the distance is too far, you cannot notice their existence or interact with them.
Therefore, relationship distance should not be minimized, but tuned.
Bring them closer.
Allow them to step away a little.
It is okay not to have a role.
It is okay not to come for a while.
You can return when you need to.
That range creates the flexibility of a neighborhood.
The notation R² incorporates the idea that the influence of relational distance is significant.
However, this does not mean the strict square of physical laws. It is an emphasis on the fact that the closeness or distance of relationships affects the comfort of a neighborhood more than other factors.
G | Contextual field where value grows
Taking the same activity to a different place does not necessarily lead to the same result.
The history of the land.
Natural environment.
Systems.
Culture.
Industry.
Transportation.
Media.
Technology.
Seasons.
Time of day.
The memories of the people who live there.
Relationships online.
These multiple conditions overlap to create a field where latent value grows.
We call this a contextual field.
For example, suppose you promote an old festival as a new event.
The necessary cultivation differs between regions where the number of people carrying on traditions is decreasing and regions where tourists are flocking.
Even with the same perspective, how it is received changes depending on the residents' memories and the power dynamics of the region.
In Neighborhood Studies, we do not believe that an excellent plan can be deployed anywhere.
Even if you can transfer the method, you cannot transfer the meaning as it is.
If you extract only the value without reading the context, culture will be consumed as mere material.
F | The power that makes people return, talk about it, and want to pass it on
When PV, S, C, R, and G overlap, a gravitational pull is born between people, places, and culture.
That is neighborhood gravity.
Neighborhood gravity is not the same as the number of visitors or followers.
Even if many people gather, the relationship may disappear once the event is over.
Conversely, even if there are few participants, the people who met there may start something in another place, and the relationship may reconnect years later.
Neighborhood gravity appears as the following movements.
People return.
They talk to someone about it.
They get involved in their own way.
They try to protect it when it is about to be lost.
They take the manners and stories they received to another place.
They start the continuation without the central figure knowing.
Therefore, F is not the 'strength to keep people in one place'.
It is a cultural gravitational pull that remains even after one has left, creating new relationships.
Looking at Suzuki-cho through the basic formula
Let's apply this formula to the activities in Suzuki-cho, Kodaira City.
In Suzuki-cho, there are place names derived from Suzuki-shinden, the Suzuki Inari Shrine, the Suzuki-bayashi music, and the Suzuki ruins.
These have existed for a long time.
However, they were not recognized as a single culture.
PV | Potential Value
The fact that the word "Suzuki" overlapped with local place names, beliefs, performing arts, and ruins, despite having different origins and eras.
S | Sensitivity
Not letting the sense of unease—"Why are there so many Suzukis overlapping?"—pass by as mere coincidence.
C | Cultivation
Researching the history, listening to those involved, establishing the perspective of it being a "place visited by Suzukis from all over the country," and organizing it into a form that others can engage with, such as through the Suzuki Festival, exhibitions, and outreach.
R | Relational Distance
Creating entry points where not only preservation societies and local residents, but also people with the surname Suzuki from outside the area, children, shops, and artists can participate at different levels of depth.
G | Contextual Field
The history of Suzuki-shinden, local festivals, folk performing arts, ruins, the lives of current residents, and the culture of the Suzuki surname spreading across the country all overlapped.
As these combined, more people began to talk about Suzuki-cho, create festivals, visit the area, and pass the story on to others, and a movement began to emerge.
This can be seen as one manifestation of neighborhood gravity.
However, it cannot be explained by the formula alone
What we must be careful about here is that applying the basic formula does not mean that all of reality can be explained.
For example, even if someone lives in Suzuki-cho, there are those who have no interest in the story of "Suzuki."
Residents who do not have the surname Suzuki may also feel a sense of alienation.
There is also the danger that local history will be told only through parts that are convenient for events.
The power dynamics of who can speak and whose opinions are adopted are difficult to fully capture with the formula alone.
Chance encounters.
Individual moods.
Conflict.
Emotional wounds.
Social inequality.
Unspoken silence.
These things also greatly influence the formation of a neighborhood.
The basic formula is not an answer that closes off reality.
Rather,
it must also be used to discover
what this formula cannot explain.
Is trust an independent element?
Trust is essential for a neighborhood to grow.
So, should we add Trust as a new variable?
At this point, I do not consider trust to be an independent element.
Trust manifests as the quality of C, R, and G.
Those who cultivate the land do not mix facts with interpretations.
Do not impose the distance of relationships.
The distribution of roles and benefits is visible.
You do not lose the relationship even if you express a dissenting opinion.
Respect the history of the region and the will of the stakeholders.
The accumulation of such practices creates trust.
Trust is not a material that can be invested from the beginning.
It is formed over time as a quality of the relationship.
Why is it important to have diverse people?
A neighborhood needs not only similar people, but also people with different positions and sensibilities.
People who have lived there for a long time.
People who have arrived recently.
People from outside the region.
People who participate in activities.
People who do not participate.
Children.
The elderly.
Experts.
People who know nothing.
Heterogeneity is not so much a single variable as it is related to the quality of C and the tuning conditions of R.
Is it being cultivated so that different kinds of people can enter?
Is there a distance that allows people to engage while still holding different opinions?
When heterogeneity is lost, a neighborhood becomes efficient, but it also becomes prone to becoming an insular clique.
A neighborhood completed only by similar people may look strong, but it has low resistance to change.
Time permeates all elements.
A neighborhood cannot be understood through a single event.
It takes time for latent value to be discovered.
Sensitivity also changes with experience.
Cultivation involves repeated trial and error.
Relational distance moves closer and further away.
Contextual fields also change depending on institutions, generations, and technology.
Therefore, rather than adding time T to the formula as an independent variable, we consider it as an axis that permeates all elements.
Even for the same activity, the meaning is different right after it starts compared to ten years later.
Look at what remains after several years, rather than the fact that people gathered temporarily.
Sometimes, other activities are born from a place that has ended.
Kaiwai-gaku does not just capture the state of a certain moment, but observes how values and relationships have changed.
Do not maximize gravity.
Looking at the formula, it seems that F becomes stronger if PV, S, C, and G are increased and R is decreased.
However, the purpose of Kaiwai-gaku is not to maximize F.
If gravity becomes too strong, it turns into pressure that binds people.
You must participate.
You must believe in the same story.
You cannot step down from your role.
Leaving is considered a betrayal.
I call the power generated there 'Negative Gravity'.
What is needed is not a strong community, but a flexible one.
You can get closer.
You can move away.
You can return.
You can bring in different interpretations.
The center can shift.
If necessary, you can make it smaller or bring it to an end.
Even then, memories and relationships carry over to other places.
The basic formula must be used not only to strengthen gravity, but also to diagnose where pressure is being created.
The formula is not an answer, but a question.
When using the basic formula of Kaiwai-gaku, you can pose the following questions:
What kind of latent value exists in this place?
Who senses it, and who does not?
Who is cultivating the value, and for whom is it becoming a burden?
At what distance can one engage without strain?
What kind of history, systems, and culture are at work?
Who is returning, talking about it, and sharing it with the outside world?
Who is finding it difficult to enter, and who is finding it difficult to leave?
And, what is not visible in this formula?
We do not force reality to fit the formula.
We use reality to question the formula, and rewrite it if necessary.
That is the condition for keeping Kaiwai-gaku open as a practical study.
Opening up Kaiwai-gaku to the field
Through these 10 articles so far, I have organized the way of thinking about how a 'kaiwai' (neighborhood/community) is born.
Find something that piques your interest.
Do not rush to eliminate the sense of not knowing.
Record signs that have not yet become news.
Before naming something, observe and interpret it.
After gathering people, leave behind a continuation of the relationship.
Tune the distance so it is neither too close nor too far.
Do not over-manage the reasons why people return.
Watch for signs of gravity turning into pressure.
And, grasp these as a single structure.
However, Kaiwai-gaku is not complete just by creating a theory.
It is necessary to take it out into the field, observe actual places and activities, and encounter things that cannot be easily explained.
Kaiwai-gaku is not a theory that explains the world with a single formula.
It is a tentative map for thinking about how people form relationships with things not yet called value, and how they pass them on as culture.
Maps exist to be used for walking the terrain.
If you walk, you will find paths not on the map.
There are also dead ends.
You will also realize when boundaries are wrong.
Each time that happens, you can simply redraw the map.
In the next article, I will organize the definition, structure, and practice of Kaiwai-gaku that I have considered so far, in a way that is accessible even to first-time readers.