Relay Column: Technological Utopia, or Smooth Body（Yusuke Sato）

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PROFILE

Yusuke Sato

Part-time lecturer at Kanagawa University and others. Ph.D. in Sociology. Studying the nature of "sociology" in post-war Japanese society in relation to literature and criticism, focusing on Keiichi Sakuta. His works include "作田啓一の文学／社会学 : 捨て犬たちの生、儚い希望" (2022, Koyo Shobo).
For a detailed research profile, visit researchmap

1. UFOs & Technological Utopias

Somewhere on a cliff in South America, the sight of a pure white disc floating above the deep blue southern sea took our minds far away from the mundanity and conflicts of the world below.（1）

The passage above is from Yukio Mishima's "美しい星 (Beautiful Star)," specifically a part of a private message from an enthusiastic young member of the "Cosmic Friends Association," which is led by a man named Osugi, who believes he is a Martian.

Why do people see UFOs? Besides misinterpretations, one possible factor is the desire to attract the attention of those around them through the special experience of claiming to have "seen a UFO." However, Mishima's writing posits a different motive. Through UFOs, people fulfill their desire to "detach" from "the mundane world of earthly trivialities and conflicts," that is, the world of here and now. UFOs are influenced by a utopian imagination.

Of course, unlike in the 1960s when Mishima wrote or the occult boom of the 1970s, it seems that most contemporary Japanese people no longer believe in UFOs. So, has the desire to "detach" from the here and now vanished?

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