Kaito Toyama, a fourth-year student in the Department of Contemporary Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Edogawa University, received the Encouragement Award in the general category of the 4nd Sakurai Tokutaro Award, an essay contest on folklore, history, and archeology.
The Sakurai Tokutaro Award was established in 2002 by Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, to honor the achievements of folklorist Tokutaro Sakurai. Through folklore, history, and archaeology, we aim to develop and develop community-based academic studies and develop human resources who conduct research from a standpoint of making the most of the community, while encouraging regional research among the youth who will lead the next generation, and promoting a love of the local area. With the aim of nurturing students' abilities, we solicit and award essays and essays from elementary and junior high school students to the general public. In the general category, only one award is given, and in some years it is not applicable.
The title of Mr. Toyama's paper, which won the Encouragement Award, was "The Boundaryness of Graffiti: The Conflict between the Artistic Expression of Old Man Stickers and Social Values in Public Spaces." She discovered this research theme during her fieldwork training for ``Modern Society Seminar/Practical,'' a compulsory subject for second-year students.
The paper focuses on the unidentified "old man stickers" stickers that are affixed in large numbers to the streets of Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture, and examines the purpose of this graffiti (a general term for graffiti drawn in cities) and the local community. Based on fieldwork, we investigated what kind of influence it has on society.
Based on a total of 2021 street observation surveys from October 10 to November 2023, interviews with graffiti writers, and comparisons with other graffiti works, we found that the old man stickers have ``the fun of not knowing who is drawing them.'' ” and that it enables diverse evaluations and interpretations that oscillate between art and illegality.
Mr. Toyama said, ``This contest became my goal after my supervisor, Professor Yutaka Kawase, approached me.When I received the notification that I had won the award, I deeply felt that this award was due to Professor Kawase, the seminar students with whom I had deep discussions, and everyone who cooperated with the survey.I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who supported this research.'' He spoke of his joy.
My supervisor, Lecturer Kawase, said, ``The accumulation of research data over two years makes this paper unique and powerful.In the modern world, ``useful techniques and knowledge'' change in an instant, and existing The number of problems that cannot be solved using frameworks is increasing. That's why the fieldwork method, where you go to the actual site and re-evaluate the problem from the actual site, will surely provide support for surviving in society in the future." He praised Mr. Toyama for receiving the award.
