Chapter 3: Spring: Among Showers of Blossoms
on a Spring Festival day 3
On the second day of the festival, the town was crowded with many visitors. Kanalu was busy with lending RUICA to them. Several people used their RUICAs to send photos of the festival and scenery of Talafu-cho they took with comments and location information to the town's site. They could send these data to their own mobile phone too, but with RUICA they were able to issue thanks-tickets, experience trips to old days and exchange information with people who visited the town. Uemura and Araki families enjoyed the festival. Tetsu drank with his colleagues.
There was a lot of information gathered in the server. Among the cumulated messages were
"branches of cherry trees over the river were very beautiful in contrast with the red bridge"
and "The children's parade was cute."
Kanalu checked those messages which might violate privacy and modified them into less harmful ones.
It would have taken a lot of effort to find and modify those messages because of the enormous quantity of data. However,
with the help of advanced image recognition and intelligent text analysis technologies,
he could find harmful information intuitively. The method was a developed know-how in the past.
There used to be some experts who used their own intuition to pick up inappropriate messages from several tens of thousands data
in electronic conference rooms of local governments.
Kanalu transferred some information to his RUICA to confirm the content and left his office.
Toward the evening, the lanterns for the festival were lit up. The festival was to finish the following day,
Kanalu felt a bit sad all of a sudden. He remembered what Nakata said;
"Kanalu, the town you live seems very nice, but are you going to stay there forever?"
"Yes, I love this place. Nice town." Kanalu replied.
"I know what you said. But I am concerned about your ability. You can work somewhere as a researcher. Why don't you utilize your technology for other regions?"
Kanalu watched people strolling leisurely and some leaning on the balustrade of a bridge. Many people occasionally sent and received information using their RUICAs. Due to the implementation of an ubiquitous system environment, the town changed itself to a place where people could enjoy themselves in the town. Walking and appreciating what the town has done, some people sent notes via their RUICAs about what they felt with their senses as the day's record. These notes would become the town's assets. Kanalu questioned himself whether this method of building community should be limited in this town. The scenery of Turpan came across his mind: People gathered under grape vine trellis. children's bright faces, and the profound look of old men who looked as if they have had lived for over a thousand years. Sometime ago Ruica said that the area of flaming mountains was very hot. He did not want people and the scenery over there to change. He thought that the ubiquitous technology might have a mission to protect what should be protected without changing what should not be changed. Many people in the world have not yet known the true value of Information Technology. Information technology could bring happiness to people as Karezs and bridges do.
"If you are interested, I can prepare a fellow position in my laboratory." said Nakata.
"I am not interested in positions and money anymore." Kanalu replied.
"I understand. But do you like to work for better society? It isn't for fame. When you die and watch the earth from the heaven, don't you want to see what you have completed and the scenery people enjoyed your technology? I want to see it. I don't care whether my name has on them. But I would like to see from the heaven that people including children and old people become happy with the technology. "
Nakata said. Kanalu thought that was Nakata. He was a person who made researches with careful consideration and fortitude. It was not bad to work globally.
