"Daydreaming in a Share House" is a talk event where landlords and guests at Roopt, a share house utilizing retro properties, freely imagine fun ways of living, thinking "it would be nice if we could do this" and "it would be nice if we had that." For this second installment of the Shiogama Kaigan-dori edition, we invited Yuta Chida, who is from Shiogama City and continues to engage in art activities based there, to daydream about share house living in Shiogama.
This time, the gathering focused on delving into Mr. Chida's eventful life so far, and discussing the significance of share house living and the joys of life in Shiogama. The atmosphere was bright and filled with laughter from beginning to end, and some passionate stories emerged that made us think, "Share houses are great" and "I'd like to try living in a share house," so please enjoy reading on.
Born in Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture in 1980. Art coordinator and performer. Graduated from Miyagi University of Education. From 2011 to 2014, served as secretariat for ART Revival Connection TOHOKU (now ARCT), then became its representative in 2015. Festival Manager for the Sanriku International Arts Festival from 2014 to 2018. Established Arts Ground Tohoku in 2016. Utilizing his experience as an elementary school teacher and in contemporary dance, he plans and produces projects for regional and performing arts in Tohoku.
First, I'll briefly introduce Roopt Shiogama Kaigan-dori, the setting for this "daydreaming" session.
Roopt Shiogama Kaigan-dori is a four-story share house located about 30 minutes by train or car from Sendai Station, and a 1-minute walk from Hon-Shiogama Station on the JR Senseki Line. The second floor has a common space and rooms for vacation rentals, while the third and fourth floors have a total of five private rooms for share house residents. It's a place where you can experience the "artistic" atmosphere of Shiogama, with bookshelves utilizing the stair steps, a tricolor painted ceiling, and tatami mats from renovation waste embedded in the walls.
If you'd like to know more about Roopt Shiogama Kaigan-dori, please see this share house information page.
Watanabe: Mr. Chida, you're from Sendai and spent your elementary and junior high school years in Shiogama, and then you experienced living abroad, right?
Chida: Yes, in junior high school, I went to Germany for a one-year exchange program and stayed with a family with three boys. But I got tired of only hearing German around me and became homesick, so I lived a life where I would wake up and then go back to sleep because I didn't want to hear German. The host family probably thought, "He sleeps a lot" (laughs).
Watanabe: That's interesting right from the start (laughs).
Chida: After that, I got used to life in Germany, which was good, but on the other hand, I completely stopped speaking Japanese. It was a shock when I tried to speak Japanese with a Japanese person after six months and couldn't (laughs).
Watanabe: After all those experiences in Germany, you came back to Japan, right?
Chida: I graduated from a local high school, went to Miyagi University of Education, and then worked as an elementary school teacher in Tokyo. I lived in a men's dormitory at university, and I also shared a house with friends in Tokyo, so looking back, I spent a long time living with people other than my family.
Watanabe: Please tell me more about your shared living experiences later. Since you're currently active in the art world, being an elementary school teacher is a bit surprising. What was the reason for that?
Chida: Actually, I became an elementary school teacher to raise funds.
Watanabe: Funds for what?
Chida: There was a pub in Sendai that I frequented, and interesting people like theater professionals often gathered there. I loved that atmosphere and dreamed of "creating a place like this myself!" But I needed funds. So, I planned to work as an elementary school teacher for about five years to save money, then train at a shop for another five years before opening my own business.
Watanabe: You had such a plan! Your five-year plan actually ended with you resigning after three years, didn't it?
Chida: Looking at the teachers around me, they started being assigned important positions after about three years, and I thought, "If I continue for five years, it might be hard to quit easily," so I resigned after three years. At the same time, my share house with friends also broke up, and since I didn't have money then, I decided to go back to my parents' home, but in the end, I didn't go back home and went straight to Honduras instead (laughs).
Watanabe: That's quite a place to go (laughs).
Chida: My mother was in Honduras to create a dance piece and asked me to come help her. I hadn't decided what to do next, and I had few belongings from share house living, so I just sent my unnecessary luggage to my parents' home and went straight to Honduras. That's how it happened.
Watanabe: By the way, who received that luggage?
Chida: I still don't know what happened to it (laughs).
Watanabe: Was Honduras a completely different environment from Japan?
Chida: Yes, especially the public safety was completely different. For example, it was dangerous to walk outside, so I traveled mostly by taxi for almost all of my two-month stay, and ordinary shops had gun lockers. Unlike Japan, Honduras is a country where guns are widely available, so I was surprised by that gap.
Watanabe: It's hard to imagine if you haven't been there... Were there any memorable events during your previous stay in Germany?
Chida: I'll never forget Christmas Day. In Japan, it's customary for adults to give presents to children, but in Germany, each family member prepares and gives presents to everyone. Of course, I didn't know that, so I was the only one who didn't bring a present and just received them, which was quite embarrassing (laughs).
Watanabe: I couldn't handle that (laughs).
Chida: There were also many moments where I felt the difference from Japan, such as being allowed to drink alcohol and smoke from age 16, and a strong interest in politics. I think a big takeaway from living abroad was learning that "there are many differences you won't understand unless you live together."
Watanabe: That stance of "others are naturally different," like in overseas living, might also be important in shared living or family life.
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