I wanted to step out of the rushing river of the information society, so I tried experiencing 'slow thinking' at 'Donkou'

Are you tired of the information society centered on social media?

I am tired.

While I like the act of 'gathering information' itself, isn't there just a bit too much information out there??

Time performance! Cost performance! Don't do that! You'll lose out if you don't do this! Here are the rules for being happy! The latest side hustles! And so on.

Nooooo, I'm full. I've got heartburn. My head is going to explode.

So, I went to 'Donkou'.

'Donkou' is a private library run by Yoshitaka Haba, representative of BACH and a book director, along with the attached 'Kissa Fang'.

It's been featured many times in high-quality, niche magazines, and while I've always wanted to go, it always sells out within hours of reservations opening. I finally won the battle for a spot and was able to visit. Yay.

It's a system where you unlock the door with a passcode five minutes before your reservation.

It's limited to 6 people for 90 minutes (three sessions per day), so I entered with 5 others.

There was a brief explanation at the start, then we ordered coffee (I also ordered pudding) (I was the only one eating it ←), and the style was to just spend your time however you like.

They said we could sit on the tatami mats, on chairs, or on the veranda—anywhere we liked.

The trees in the garden were wonderful, so I decided to sit on the veranda.

When I sat down, the coffee from 'Kissa Fang' was brought to me, and when I took a quiet sip, it was so delicious that I let out a small 'Wow...'

After I got home, I looked it up and found a web article saying it has roots in Tokyo's 'Daibo Coffee Shop', which made sense. (I've never been to Daibo Coffee Shop, but it's a legendary place that any coffee lover has heard of at least once.)

After taking a sip of coffee, I thought, 'Well, what shall I do for the next 90 minutes?'

I could spend the full 90 minutes reading a book, but since the breeze on the veranda was so pleasant, I decided to 'do nothing'.

I sat down on the veranda, took a deep breath, and enjoyed the garden in front of me.

The sound of leaves rustling against each other, the sound of the trees swishing as the wind blew strongly, the buzzing of insects, the sunlight filtering through the trees on my toes...

…….

………….

Ahhhhh, it's such a wonderful space, but!

I feel so restless because I don't know what to do with my hands...!!

Because I spend my days reaching for my smartphone if I have even a second of downtime,

doing 'nothing' is so difficult...!!

Anyway, it took me 30 minutes just to 'get used to enjoying the space.' The harmful effects of the information society have reached their peak here.

But after 30 minutes, my body started to settle into the space, and while I was zoning out, I was able to jot down some ideas in my notebook.

The things that came to mind were notes on daydreams like, 'It might be interesting if something like this happened in the future.'

These kinds of things only pop into my head when I have some breathing room.

In the dizzying daily life of working, doing chores, completing tasks, and looking at my smartphone, this 'popping' doesn't happen.

So, while squinting at the sunlight filtering through the trees on the veranda,

Ah, that's right, this is what I came here for,

I thought vaguely.

After that, I flipped through 'The Artist's Way,' which I had been meaning to read for a long time.

Time flowed slowly, but since it was only 90 minutes, it went by in a flash.

But it was definitely a different level of intensity compared to the 90 minutes I usually spend.

'Slow thinking' = 'To think, slowly'

Technology will probably continue to advance more and more, but precisely because of that, I think an era will come where we place importance on this 'daring to think slowly'.

I myself sometimes get the feeling that I'm being swept away by a rushing river I don't quite understand.

But when I look around, everyone is in that river, and since everyone is being swept along with a normal face, I find myself being swept along too, thinking, 'It's a bit of a rushing river, but everyone is here, so I guess that's just how it is.'

However, looking back on the past, the things I thought about when I stepped out of the river for a moment, saying 'Wait a minute,' often end up being useful to me later on.

But I also think it's impossible to completely shut down information in this information society.

So, while I will continue to receive information, I want to make sure I don't forget to 'think slowly' in my own way.

(Note: Please be aware that it is quite a distance to go just while sightseeing in Kyoto...!)