Our Cork 2040: "Don't invent too much new stuff."
For the tenth installation of Our Cork, our guest writer is eight-year-old Haruki Micéal Ikeda-O'Donoghue and he has some things to say.
For part ten of Our Cork, we hear from someone who is probably least likely to be invited to write an opinion piece out of all our guests so far: an eight-year-old.
We believe it’s the people who live, work, raise families and face all of life’s challenges in Cork who really hold a stake in the future of the city and county.
Our Cork 2040 presents a variety of writers with different areas of expertise, experience and interest.
This installment is more experimental than most, but the eight-year-old of today is the adult of the city’s future.
If you would like to become a contributing writer in this series, drop us a line! Our contact details are here. If you like what you read and want to support quality, independent local journalism, subscribe below.
Our Cork 2040: Haruki Micéal Ikeda-O'Donoghue
Haruki Micéal Ikeda-O'Donoghue is eight and was born in Kyoto, Japan. In the summer of 2020 he moved to Cork, where his Dad is from, with his family. Haruki has one brother, Fionn Masaki, who's four. His mum, Tomomi, is from Okayama in Japan. Haruki plays soccer with Tramore Athletic and he goes to school in Douglas where he'll start into second class next week. He wants to join a badminton club this year and likes walking to school.
What will Cork look like in 2040?
I hope it will be a better city. Like, less smoking. Make the world a better place. I hope there’ll be more things for children, and don’t invent too much new stuff. Because some stuff is really bad, but some stuff we definitely need, like rivers.
What will you be doing when you’re 28?
When I’ll be 28 I want to be in a job. I kinda like sports so I want to be a sports player. I love badminton now so maybe I’ll go with badminton because it’s really cool and I kind of like soccer too, because there’s a green outside my house, but normally I do badminton on the road.
I kinda want to be a game programmer, like computer programming or some kind of mechanical thing job.
I’d like to go to a different country, but it will depend on the job, like if it’s a real big job like game working or a karate fighter, maybe I will live in Japan. I’ll definitely go to different countries to visit but I don’t think I’ll stay there. Maybe, but probably not.
What things are different in Ireland from in Japan?
The talking is boring. I mean, Japanese people talk too. But in Ireland, in Cork, they talk for like two hours, one hour. Man, it’s so long. Even my Dad, my neighbours. Not really the children at school, I think it’s more the big people.
Even my teachers actually talk quite a bit. If they meet another teacher, they talk for at least five minutes.
In Ireland I know a lot of people, like Anthony, Richard, Eoin and Aaron. But in Japan, I only know a little bit about the people around me.
I would kinda like if people were a bit more quieter and the thing I don’t like about Cork is if it’s a Cork person on telly, they will say, “Oh look, that’s a Cork person.” Like, what’s with that? I don’t really care.
What do you like about Cork?
I like quite a few stuff. I like it because there’s more parks and green. In Japan, there isn’t too much parks and green; there’s buildings everywhere, roads and stuff. But it’s really nice.
And the school, I like that. In Japan you get separated in a different class every year but in Ireland you don’t so I like it quite a bit actually. I like school because I have loads of friends. Maybe if I didn’t know English that much, I wouldn't have that many friends but the teachers helped me learn English at school.
Some places I really like. Mum and Dad struggles a little with some things.
I like Cork because there’s loads of trees. I mean, there is trees in Japan too.
What would you like to change about Cork?
Picking up dog poo, making it a better place. I think we should do more cycling and walking than in cars, but if it’s a long distance, yeah, I suppose cars sometimes.
My friend Aaron I just talked about walks to school, and he walks with me every day normally. There’s no cars on the path we walk on. It’s called the Mangala and it’s in Douglas.
I would like it if we grew some of our food too, because normally we get food brought here from different countries. Like we grow potatoes, but normally the food gets carried from America, so I think we should make a bit more food by ourselves, same as Japan.
Also, less smoking. Less carbon dioxide. We need more trees, you know.
I would like it if there was more nature, actually. In Japan definitely I want that too, but more nature, everywhere.
This is the best article so far, and yes Cork people do talk about awful lot. I’d be interested to hear more about living in Japan