Letters to the Editor,
The Daily Yomiuri,
6-17-1 Ginza,
Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8243
Anonymity stands as one of the great virtues of city life. In anonymity we have the foundation of enhanced personal liberty - liberty in the form of diversity of choices (the freedom to do what we want) and liberty from dependence on pre-determined, fixed communities (the freedom to be who we want). In the city we can voluntarily adhere to the community of our choice, or no community at all, or form new communities by ourselves and for ourselves. Personally, I do not want to know my neighbors, and I don’t want them to know me unless it suits us and we mutually democratically choose each other. That is why I am encouraged by the good news in the story “Living in fortified urban‘castles’” (January 3, 2011). The phenomenon that the story tries to portray as socially harmful can also be described as profoundly positive. Residents of modern, tightly secure condominium towers can defend themselves from social forces that are prone to inject themselves and inappropriately interfere with our lives. “Community reps” who try to force their way into these secure high rises are, in fact, not representatives of the community and it is wrong to portray condominium managers as uncooperative with the community. Instead, why not portray“community reps,” police, census takers and flier distributors as suspicious intruders?