たくさんの出会いの中で、自分の関心が広がった
"Through many encounters, my interests expanded."
古石 華子
Hanako Koseki
選抜当時：沖縄アミークスインターナショナル中学校1年（現在：東京都立日比谷高等学校1年）
At time of selection: Okinawa AMICUS International Middle School, 1st Year / Present: Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School, 1st Year
幼い頃からの目標は「宇宙」
"Since I was a child, I have been interested in space."
私がRyukyufrogsに応募した理由は2つあります。1つ目は、宇宙開発の世界的な拠点の一つ、アメリカ・シリコンバレーに行ってみたかったということです。私には「宇宙飛行士になる」「宇宙レストランを作りたい」という目標が幼い頃からあって、将来はNASAやJAXAで働けるような人になれたらと考えていました。そんな中、宇宙の仕事をするフィールドは、以前よりぐんと広がっていることを知りました。国の力に頼らず、自力で宇宙ビジネスの会社を作り、人工衛星やロケットを打ち上げ、宇宙旅行はもちろん、イーロン・マスクさんのように、火星に人類を送ろうという起業家もいます。その世界の宇宙ビジネスの中心、シリコンバレーでは、日々、たくさんの宇宙ビジネスのピッチが行われ、新しいアイデアが生み出されているということをネットや本を読んで知り、ドキドキしていました。もしチャンスがあるのなら、私も直接シリコンバレーに行って、宇宙ビジネスの最前線の空気に触れてみたいと思ったのです。
もう1つは、自分の英語の力を試してみたいということでした。小学校六年時に、英検1級に合格することができましたが、当時、私が英語を使う場面といえば、学校や日常生活の中の慣れた人たちとの間であったり、検定試験であったりと、限られた場所、空間に限定されがちでした。もし、フロッグス生として選抜されることがあれば、シリコンバレーのビジネス最前線で、それまで一度もお会いしたことのない第一線の起業家や研究者の方々に、自らの考え抜いたサービスを、その場で英語でプレゼンし、ディスカッションを行うチャンスを得られます。これまでの限定された空間での英語から抜け出し、本場・アメリカの百戦錬磨の方々の前で、力をどれだけ出せるのか、厳しい環境で頑張ることで、ビジネスの先端に触れるのと同時に英語力をさらに上げることにもつながるのではないかと考えました。
半年間の研修で最も変化したのは、人類が「宇宙に行く」とか「宇宙で暮らす」ということについての、私のとらえ方。それが一番変わったと思います。
ちょっと乱暴な表現かもしれないのですが、半年間の研修を経て、私の中で、「宇宙」と「地球」の境がなくなりました。
研修前までは、「宇宙で暮らすこと」も「宇宙で食事をする」ことも、すべてが日常生活からはかけ離れたもので、だからこそ、サービス構築のテーマとしても魅力的で、ぜひ自分でも考えたいと思っていました。ですが、シリコンバレー研修や、様々な専門家の方々との出会いを通じ、「実際の宇宙ビジネスの世界では、宇宙に行くことも、暮らすことも、すべてがすでに実現可能な領域」に入っていて、もはや「夢」ではなく「現実」に近いことを強く感じました。それがまず、「宇宙」と「地球」の境がなくなった、と感じた理由の一つです。
そして、もう一つは、「宇宙での食について考えることは、そのまま、現在の地球上の食の課題解決にも応用できる」という、面白い事実に気が付いたこと。それはつまり、「宇宙」のことを考えること＝「地球」のことを考えることだと。ですから、この逆も、当然いえますよね、「地球」のことを考えること＝「宇宙」のことを考えること。
それが分かったとき、「宇宙」「宇宙」と考えを巡らせていた私の視界が、一気に広がったように感じました。そこで、改めて興味を持ち始めたのは、「食べ物を食す人間の体のしくみ」という、そもそものこと、でした。そこからさらに、細胞について、神経について、脳について・・・と、人の体について、深く学びたいと考えるようになりました。地球にあるものは、すべて宇宙につながっている。そう考えると、今興味のあること、関心のあることは、どんなことにでも、どんどん首を突っ込んで、調べて、学んで、挑戦してみよう、と、何かが益々開けていく感覚になりました。
I applied to Ryukyufrogs for two reasons. First, I wanted to go to Silicon Valley in the U.S., one of the world's leading centers for space exploration. Since I was a child, I have wanted to become an astronaut and start a space restaurant, and I wanted to work for NASA and JAXA in the future. In the midst of this, I learned that the field of work in space is much wider than it used to be. Instead of relying on the power of the country, there are entrepreneurs who are building their own space business companies, launch satellites and rockets, not to mention travel in space, and send humans to Mars, like Eilon Musk. I was thrilled to learn from reading books and the Internet that many space business pitches were being made every day in Silicon Valley, the center of the world's space business, and that new ideas were being generated. If I had the chance, I wanted to go directly to Silicon Valley and get a feel for the front air of space business.
My other reason was to test my English skills. I was able to pass the First Grade of the English Proficiency Test when I was in the sixth year of elementary school, but at that time my use of English tended to be limited to a limited number of places, such as at school, with familiar people in my daily life, and for examinations. If you are selected as a Frogs student, you will have the opportunity to present and discuss your ideas and services in English with frontline entrepreneurs and researchers you have never met before at the business front in Silicon Valley. I thought that by working hard in a tough environment, I would be able to break away from the limited English I had been given and see how well I could do in front of English-fluent people in the U.S., the home of English, touch the leading edge of business and at the same time improve my English skills.
What changed the most in my six months of training was my view of what it means for humans to "go to space" or "live in space." I think that was the biggest change.
This may be a quite exaggerated expression, but after the 6-month training, the boundary between “space” and “earth” vanished in my mind.
Before the training, "living in space" and "eating in space" were all far-fetched from our daily lives, and that is why it was such an appealing theme for developing a service, and I wanted to think about it on my own. However, through my training in Silicon Valley and encounters with various experts, I strongly felt that in the actual space business world, everything from going to space to living there is already feasible. This is one of the reasons why I felt that the boundary between "space" and "earth" had vanished in the first place.
Another interesting fact that I realized was that thinking about food in space can be applied to solving the food problems on Earth today. In other words, thinking about "space" means thinking about "the earth." Therefore, it is natural to say that the reverse is also true, that thinking about “the earth” means thinking about “space.”
When I realized that, my vision, in which all I had in mind was about "space," seemed to expand all at once. That is when I became interested in "how the human body works when eating food." From there, I began to want to learn more about the human body - cells, nerves, the brain, and so on. Everything on earth is connected to space. When I started to think like that, I felt that something was opening up to me more and more, so that I could poke my nose into whatever I was interested in, research it, learn about it, and try it out.
今は学びを深めていきたい
"Now I want to learn more."
今取り組んでいる活動は勉強です。高校入試を控えた受験生だったということもあります。自分の中で「宇宙」と「地球」の境目がなくなったとき、「まず今は、学校の勉強や興味があるテーマをガンガン掘ることを頑張ろう」という結論に達しました。そして、受験勉強と並行しながら、学校の英語スピーチコンテストや個人研究発表、また、学校外での様々なセミナーに参加するなど、今できることを精一杯やってきました。4月からは高校生です。LEAP DAYで誓ったように、これからも行動することを大切に、1日1日を大事に過ごしていきたいと思っています。
I applied to Ryukyufrogs for two reasons. First, I wanted to go to Silicon Valley in the U.S., one of the world's leading centers for space exploration. Since I was a child, I have wanted to become an astronaut and start a space restaurant, and I wanted to work for NASA and JAXA in the future. In the midst of this, I learned that the field of work in space is much wider than it used to be. Instead of relying on the power of the country, there are entrepreneurs who are building their own space business companies, launch satellites and rockets, not to mention travel in space, and send humans to Mars, like Eilon Musk. I was thrilled to learn from reading books and the Internet that many space business pitches were being made every day in Silicon Valley, the center of the world's space business, and that new ideas were being generated. If I had the chance, I wanted to go directly to Silicon Valley and get a feel for the front air of space business.
My other reason was to test my English skills. I was able to pass the First Grade of the English Proficiency Test when I was in the sixth year of elementary school, but at that time my use of English tended to be limited to a limited number of places, such as at school, with familiar people in my daily life, and for examinations. If you are selected as a Frogs student, you will have the opportunity to present and discuss your ideas and services in English with frontline entrepreneurs and researchers you have never met before at the business front in Silicon Valley. I thought that by working hard in a tough environment, I would be able to break away from the limited English I had been given and see how well I could do in front of English-fluent people in the U.S., the home of English, touch the leading edge of business and at the same time improve my English skills.
What changed the most in my six months of training was my view of what it means for humans to "go to space" or "live in space." I think that was the biggest change.
This may be a quite exaggerated expression, but after the 6-month training, the boundary between “space” and “earth” vanished in my mind.
Before the training, "living in space" and "eating in space" were all far-fetched from our daily lives, and that is why it was such an appealing theme for developing a service, and I wanted to think about it on my own. However, through my training in Silicon Valley and encounters with various experts, I strongly felt that in the actual space business world, everything from going to space to living there is already feasible. This is one of the reasons why I felt that the boundary between "space" and "earth" had vanished in the first place.
Another interesting fact that I realized was that thinking about food in space can be applied to solving the food problems on Earth today. In other words, thinking about "space" means thinking about "the earth." Therefore, it is natural to say that the reverse is also true, that thinking about “the earth” means thinking about “space.”
When I realized that, my vision, in which all I had in mind was about "space," seemed to expand all at once. That is when I became interested in "how the human body works when eating food." From there, I began to want to learn more about the human body - cells, nerves, the brain, and so on. Everything on earth is connected to space. When I started to think like that, I felt that something was opening up to me more and more, so that I could poke my nose into whatever I was interested in, research it, learn about it, and try it out.
