You’re probably fed up with hearing the word Covid. Many people seem to be wondering when things will get back to normal. They may be thinking happiness lies in leading an ordinary life.

Honestly, I’m one of those people.

As the state of emergency has been repeated since the start of the pandemic, I feel my sense of normalcy has been modified without my knowing it. Before the pandemic, I was given many chances to go abroad on business and have face-to-face communications with local people. I was able to work in very favorable circumstances in terms of intercultural communication. So, I felt rarely uncomfortable even when I ran into situations where people with different cultural backgrounds showed their views and behavior quite different from mine.

Furthermore, I lived in Thailand for about five years and married a Thai woman. So, cross-cultural exchange is not only about my work. It’s also about my family.

I have long believed that’s the way I am. But two months ago, I had a shocking experience when I visited a place with my wife where many foreign people got together. A minor incident that happened there made me realize that I became trapped by stereotypical views that have been formed among Japanese people because of the Covid-induced restrictions.

While I was forced to stay inside Japan for more than a year and got accustomed to watching various media reports made from Japanese points of view, my sense of human connection became different from what it was before the pandemic. It seemed as if Covid-19 had chipped away at my sense of globalization.

Ironically, I found myself disconnected from the world while having more online communications with people overseas thanks to the rapidly developing IoT technologies. That prompted me to think that people around the world started to see their shared values deteriorating under difficult circumstances.

We may be living in an era when people’s tastes for good design are going through a significant change due to Covid-19. People are losing their sense of connection despite the development of IoT technologies. I can’t help wondering what I should do in the face of such inconsistency.

Have you ever had a moment when you are led to realize something has changed with yourself?

I am wondering what I can do to change myself. I tried eating durian, hoping to give myself a bit of stimulus.

It was just delicious. As it turned out, it gave me an opportunity to remember the time when I enjoyed eating one with my comrades in a tropical country, which in turn led to enhancing my motivations.

If you feel something negative about yourself, why don’t you give you some stimulus?

One caveat: Too much stimulus will do you harm.

Norio Katahira

CMFG Design Dept.

Unit Leader