Relay Column: 'The Door Must Be Either Open or Closed' (Yasuhiro Itoh)

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PROFILE

Yasuhiro Itoh

Yasuhiro Itoh was born in Tokyo in 1994. He has a Master's degree from The University of Tokyo and is currently enrolled in a Master's program at the 'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales', or the 'School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences' (EHESS). He specializes in French literature and is focusing his research on the 20th-century author Colette. Recently, his research has centered around issues of translation and voice in her works. Alongside his research, Itoh broadens his activities by working as a dramaturg for the promising opera company Novanta Quattro, as well as writing program notes for various concerts.

Two and a half months have passed since I moved to Paris for my studies. As daily life takes form, surprising events decrease, and naturally so does the amount of speech. Except for the times when I immerse myself in lively words at theaters I often visit, my days are quite quiet. But sometimes I unexpectedly find myself immersed in the tumult of language.

On the way home from the library, I hop on the metro. From the far end of the car, I can hear an argument between two women. Not knowing the origin of the dispute, their rapid speech is terrifying, and I don't understand what they're saying at all (the surrounding people were all smirking, so it must not have been something commendable). Not only people on the same car but also passengers on adjacent cars were watching as the two of them, from then until four or five stations later, kept arguing without stopping for a moment.

It wasn't that one person was on a tirade; they were talking over each other, biting off the end of each other's words, messily stringing together words after words. Phrases were continually cropping up in a volume that shrugged off the roar of the train, colliding with one another. The Paris Metro is a space through which words usually pass, whether from beggars or musicians, but I was simply speechless at the potential of the language shown (even the people involved themselves must not have expected this) in an encounter between unknown individuals. I realized that I was in the midst of that linguistic interaction.