WEBVTT

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This is a kindergarten
we designed in 2007.

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We made this kindergarten 
to be a circle.

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It's a kind of endless circulation
on top of the roof.

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If you are a parent,

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you know that kids love
to keep making circles.

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This is how the rooftop looks.

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And why did we design this?

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The principal of this kindergarten said,

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"No, I don't want a handrail."

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I said, "It's impossible."

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But he insisted: "How about having a net
sticking out from the edge of the roof?

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So that it can catch
the children falling off?"

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(Laughter)

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I said, "It's impossible."

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And of course,
the government official said,

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"Of course you have to have a handrail."

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But we could keep 
that idea around the trees.

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There are three trees popping through.

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And we were allowed to call 
this rope as a handrail.

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But of course, rope has nothing
to do with them.

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They fall into the net.

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And you get more,

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and more,

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more.

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(Laughter)

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Sometimes 40 children 
are around a tree.

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The boy on the branch,

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he loves the tree
so he is eating the tree.

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(Laughter)

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And at the time of an event,

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they sit on the edge.

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It looks so nice from underneath.

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Monkeys in the zoo.

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(Laughter)

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Feeding time.

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(Laughter) 
(Applause)

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And we made the roof as low as possible,

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because we wanted to see
children on top of the roof,

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not only underneath the roof.

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And if the roof is too high,
you see only the ceiling.

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And the leg washing place --
there are many kinds of water taps.

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You see with the flexible tubes,

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you want to spray water
to your friends,

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and the shower,

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and the one in front is quite normal.

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But if you look at this,

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the boy is not washing his boots,

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he's putting water into his boots.

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(Laughter)

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This kindergarten is completely
open, most of the year.

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And there is no boundary
between inside and outside.

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So it means basically
this architecture is a roof.

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And also there is no boundary
between classrooms.

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So there is no acoustic barrier at all.

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When you put many children in a quiet box,

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some of them get really nervous.

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But in this kindergarten,

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there is no reason they get nervous.

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Because there is no boundary.

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And the principal says

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if the boy in the corner
doesn't want to stay in the room,

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we let him go.

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He will come back eventually,
because it's a circle, it comes back.

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(Laughter)

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But the point is,
in that kind of occasion,

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usually children try to hide somewhere.

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But here, just they leave and come back.

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It's a natural process.

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And secondly, we consider
noise very important.

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You know that children
sleep better in noise.

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They don't sleep in a quiet space.

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And in this kindergarten,

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these children show
amazing concentration in class.

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And you know, our kind grew up
in the jungle with noise.

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They need noise.

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And you know, you can talk
to your friends in a noisy bar.

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You are not supposed to be in silence.

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And you know, these days

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we are trying to make
everything under control.

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You know, it's completely open.

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And you should know that

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we can go skiing in -20 degrees in winter.

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In summer you go swimming.

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The sand is 50 degrees.

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And also, you should know
that you are waterproof.

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You never melt in rain.

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So, children are supposed to be outside.

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So that is how we should treat them.

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This is how they divide classrooms.

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They are supposed to help teachers.

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They don't.

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(Laughter)

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I didn't put him in.

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A classroom.

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And a washbasin.

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They talk to each other around the well.

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And there are always 
some trees in the classroom.

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A monkey trying to fish
another monkey from above.

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(Laughter)

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Monkeys.

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(Laughter)

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And each classroom has
at least one skylight.

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And this is where Santa Claus
comes down at the time of Christmas.

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This is the annex building,

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right next to that
oval-shaped kindergarten.

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The building is only
five meters tall with seven floors.

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And of course,
the ceiling height is very low.

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So you have to consider safety.

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So, we put our children,
a daughter and a son.

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They tried to go in.

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He hit his head.

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He's okay. His skull is quite strong.

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He is resilient. It's my son.

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(Laughter)

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And he is trying to see
if it is safe to jump off.

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And then we put other children.

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The traffic jam is awful
in Tokyo, as you know.

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(Laughter)

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The driver in front,
she needs to learn how to drive.

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Now these days,

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kids need a small dosage of danger.

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And in this kind of occasion,

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they learn to help each other.

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This is society. This is the kind of
opportunity we are losing these days.

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Now, this drawing is showing
the movement of a boy

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between 9:10 and 9:30.

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And the circumference
of this building is 183 meters.

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So it's not exactly small at all.

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And this boy did 6,000 meters
in the morning.

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But the surprise is yet to come.

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The children in this kindergarten
do 4,000 meters on average.

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And these children have
the highest athletic abilities

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among many kindergartens.

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The principal says,

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"I don't train them.
We leave them on top of the roof.

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Just like sheep."

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(Laughter)

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They keep running.

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(Laughter)

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My point is don't control them,

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don't protect them too much,

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and they need to tumble sometimes.

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They need to get some injury.

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And that makes them learn

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how to live in this world.

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I think architecture is capable
of changing this world,

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and people's lives.

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And this is one of the attempts
to change the lives of children.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)