Can't get an access to a companion object's field

Question

I'm wondering, why can't a class get an access to a companion object's field?

class MyClass {
  println(val1) // not found, why?
}

object MyClass {
  val val1 = "str"
}

It should, it should even have an access to the private fields of object MyClass.

Answer 1

You can do that by using MyClass.val1 instead of just val1. I guest that's done to denote that companion object members can be accessed from anywhere (with default modifiers).