Maya Kanko Hotel Ruins
（続き）
The music used for the slides was
Night Note
ghost town
SoundCloud
Maya Kanko Hotel. Mayakan.
I knew it was long abandoned and I had already watched Matterport's VR content. But seeing it in person left me speechless. It is a nearly 100-year-old building that has closed down many times and suffered various disasters, so perhaps this is the way it should look.
I stayed there in the late 70s. This was when the place was called the Maya Student Centre, but no one said so, just Mayakan.
Mayakan all-night parties. We would gather in a room and eat sukiyaki. When we got sleepy, we were supposed to split up and sleep in the men's and women's bedrooms, but I've forgotten the details. Late at night, I walked around the building with my girlfriend, who would become my wife after graduation. It was deserted and I wondered who was still there, but there were still pictures hanging here and there, and the decor and furnishings had an old-fashioned quality. I wondered why I didn't have a camera, but as I recall, nobody in the circle had one. I bought a camera a year after I graduated, when I got married. While I wish I had one, it is doubtful that I would have captured Mayakan at that time even if I had one.
What was different from the VR content was the amount of greenery. The cracked and crumbling concrete will eventually be covered in greenery. And where it has been returned to the earth, new greenery will sprout again.
I have heard that some people want the Maya Kanko Hotel not only to be maintained and preserved as a ruin, but also to be reborn as the Maya Kanko Hotel.100 years later, I feel that it is inevitable that it will return to the earth.
My wife and my friends who used to come and stay here have already passed away. Sooner or later, so will I.
After confirming the obvious, I went home without stopping. I thought about having a light drink and going home, but when I got home tipsy, I didn't have my wife to talk to about this and that. That seemed unbearable that day.
摩耶観光ホテル。マヤカン。
とうに廃墟になっていることは承知していたし、MatterportのVRコンテンツも視聴済み。しかし実際を目の当たりにすると言葉を失う。何度も廃業し、様々な災害に見舞われた100年近く前の建物だから、これが当然の姿なのかもしれないのだが。
私が泊まったのは70年代の終わりごろ。摩耶学生センターと呼称された時期とのことだが、誰もそうは言わずに、ただマヤカン。
マヤカン夜通しコンパ。一室に集まって、すき焼きを食べる。眠くなったら、男子部屋、女子部屋に分かれて眠ることになっていたはずだが、忘れてしまった。卒業後妻となる彼女と深夜の館内を歩いて回った。私たち以外に誰がいるのだろうかと思うような寂れた雰囲気だったが、それでもあちらこちらに絵が掛っていたし、装飾や家具調度に古いものの良さがあった。何故カメラを持っていなかったのかと思うのだが、思い出してみれば、サークルの誰もがカメラを持っていなかった。私がカメラを購入したのは、卒業して1年後の結婚が機となった。持っていればと思う反面、持っていても、その頃のマヤカンを写したかどうか怪しいものだ。
VRコンテンツと違うのは、緑の多さだった。ひび割れて崩落の進むコンクリートは、いずれ緑に埋め尽くされるのだろう。そして新たに土に還った場所には、また新たな緑が芽吹く。
廃墟として維持保存するだけではなく、摩耶観光ホテルの新生を望む声もあるそうだが。100年経てば土に還っても仕方がない気もしてくる。
ここに集い一緒に泊まった後の妻も、友人も、既にこの世にはいない。いずれ私も。
当たり前の事実を確認して、イベント終了後は、どこにも寄らず帰宅した。軽く飲んで帰ることも考えたが、ほろ酔いで帰る家には、あれこれ話したい妻がいない。それがこの日は、なんとも耐えがたいように思われた。
