ファミリービジネスが息づく歴史の町

　米国北東部、マサチューセッツ州の州都ボストンといえば、米国でも屈指の歴史ある町。1630年に英国から来た清教徒の入植者によって建設され、1770年のボストン虐殺事件、1773年のボストン茶会事件など、米国独立史上数々の重要な出来事の舞台となりました。その歴史にまつわる史跡16カ所は、フリーダムトレイルと呼ばれる赤いラインで結ばれており、それに沿って歩けば米国独立に向けた足取りをたどることができます。

　そんな歴史の町を旅した筆者は、家族何代にもわたって町を支え続ける人びとに出会います。例えば米国最古の植物園であるパブリックガーデン名物のスワンボートは、130年以上も同じ家族によって経営されています。松坂大輔投手が所属するボストン・レッドソックスの本拠地フェンウェイパーク周辺で野球グッズの店を営むディアンジェロ家や、老舗レストランの「リーガルシーフード」を経営するバーコウィッツ家も、そんな家族経営ビジネスの例。彼らの言葉からは、家族で培ってきたビジネスへの深い愛情と誇りが感じられます。

　さて、美術館・博物館めぐりが楽しめるのもボストンの大きな魅力のひとつです。筆者はボストン・コンテンポラリーアート美術館、ジョン・F・ケネディ図書館を訪れた後、イザベラ・スチュアート・ガードナー美術館とボストン美術館に足を運びます。この後者ふたつの美術館は、規模こそ違うものの、どちらも素晴らしい日本美術のコレクションを有しています。

　日本美術に触れて、今度は日本食を食べたくなったという筆者。人気の日本食レストランへ向かいます。日本人だけのものではなくなって久しい和食ですが、有名シェフが切り盛りするこのお店では特に独創的な食材の組み合わせが楽しめるようです。日本食通の筆者も驚いたその料理とは？

　新旧の見どころ満載のボストン。その奥深い魅力に触れるには、１日だけではとても足りなさそうです。（宇）

　It's not every family that can earn a living from pedal-powered swans on pontoons. In fact, only one such family - the Pagets - have been doing this for over 136 years.

　While tradition-filled cities in Japan often have businesses and craftsmen that trace their roots back generations, such ancestry is harder to find in America. An exception is Boston, where several family-owned enterprises have been enhancing the urban scene with unique, popular and flavorful diversions for decades.

　Lyn Paget is a member of the fourth generation to own and operate the celebrated swan boats located inside Boston Public Garden, the oldest botanical garden in the United States. The park is fringed with cherry trees presented to Boston by Japan a century ago.

　"Back in 1877," Lyn told me, "my great-grandfather Robert Paget introduced this new kind of boat into the lagoon. He linked a paddle wheel to a bicycle mechanism, covering that with a large, graceful copper swan. A deck holding eight seats was fastened to a catamaran."

　Today's boats have benches carrying up to 20 passengers, and the swans are now made of fiberglass.

　"They're close replicas of the originals," Lyn said. "Of our six swan boats, the oldest was built by my grandfather John in 1918. There's no other boats like these anywhere in the world."

　From the swan boats, we can see skyscrapers and the golden dome of the Massachusetts state house, but it's about six kilometers to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. This revered baseball stadium turned 100 this year, and surrounding it are dozens of souvenir shops owned by a single family - the D'Angelos.

　The family patriarch, 85-year-old Arthur D'Angelo, explained, "I opened our first shop in 1947 with my twin brother Henry. Besides making thousands of Red Sox items, we supply sports souvenirs to every major league ballpark in America and to 200 college teams."

　These activities made Arthur, his sons and grandsons millionaires, but each is still involved in the everyday workings of the shops. "I've met all the players," Arthur added. "Daisuke Matsuzaka is recovering now from surgery, but he should be back in form this season." (Matsuzaka has recorded 1 win and 5 losses so far in the 2012 season.)

　Many people associate Boston with fresh fish and lobster, so it wasn't surprising to find a seafood dynasty here as well. George Berkowitz started with his Legal Sea Foods market in Cambridge. His son Roger saw that expand to a number of restaurants, and his grandson Scott welcomed me at their newest flagship, Legal Harborside, on the waterfront near where the Boston Tea Party took place in 1773.

　"We're now the largest restaurant in Boston, serving 2,000-3,000 customers daily," Scott told me. As I sat facing the harbor, enjoying salmon cooked on a wood-burning grill with sauteed spinach and sweet-sour Japanese eggplant, I asked him what he thought the reason was for his family's huge success.

　"We understood what people wanted, and then coined the phrase, 'If it isn't fresh, it isn't Legal!' " Scott replied. "Currently, we have over 30 locations along the eastern seaboard."

古今東西のアートに触れる

　From there it was a short walk to Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art, and a subway ride to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum to see the legacy of the most successful Boston family of all, that of President John F. Kennedy. While he only served a thousand days in office before being assassinated, the Kennedy family influenced Massachusetts, national and international politics for decades.

　In a different direction, an electric streetcar took me out past Copley Square to a 15th century Venetian palace with a flowering courtyard. Built in the early 20th century by heiress and philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner, this private family home is now open to the public with an art collection that rivals the far larger Boston Museum of Fine Arts, located, ironically, diagonally across the street.

　Among their hundreds of world-class masterpieces, both museums have superb Japanese collections. Seeing that put me in the mood for dinner at the Uni Sashimi Bar, a short taxi ride away in the historic Eliot Hotel.

　I've eaten sushi and sashimi all my adult life, but not like this. Chef Chris Gould has won both praise and awards by pairing Japanese classics with international ingredients, creating unique combinations like Hispanic-style Suzuki ceviche (marinated raw fish), Portuguese scorpion fish sashimi, and even karaage fried chicken with kimchi.

　As I left Uni that evening, a spectacular sunset painted the sky in shades of violet and blue, silhouetting vintage "gas lamps." Powered these days by electricity, I realized that while change is inevitable, the idea of "family traditions" in Boston now includes influences from around the world.