I WAS in Tokyo recently. It was late at night and I remember looking at my watch, and speeding up my walk. I didn’t want to miss the bus. The Japanese are famous for being punctual (did you hear about a Japanese rail company issuing an apology for one of their trains leaving 25 SECONDS early?) and this bus ride back to my hotel would not be an exception.
I arrived at the Shinjuku bus terminal area with three minutes to spare and saw my bus already waiting. As I was about to step into the bus when I saw the most curious thing.
A homeless Japanese lady was at the front entrance of a shopping mall. It was late, so the mall was closed for the day.
She was maybe in her late 50s or early 60s, and was holding several folded cardboard boxes in various sizes. She then purposefully arranged the cardboards into a perfect rectangle. I noticed that eventhough her clothes were old and ragged, she dressed neatly. Her unwashed hair was tidy.
She then walked into the rectangle, and then reached out to take out a long piece of cardboard. With a slight bow, she sat down in the rectangle, pulled the cardboard over her makeshift quarters, over her head, like a roof, and closed the rectangle with her in it.
Suddenly, all you could see was a very neat cardboard rectangle box in a corner of the mall entrance. I thought she must be a very neat person.
Then, another homeless person came out of nowhere. He, too, wore very old clothes. And, just like the lady, he was neat, all tucked in. His hair combed to one side.
He, too, brought his cardboards, arranging them neatly in the same way the lady did, some 10 feet from her.
Then, with a slight bow to the world, he put the roof over his head and rested for the night inside the box.
I was amazed. Even as they were facing the worst indignation of their lives, they still had honour. They held their heads up high.
It is a well-known Japanese trait that, above all things, one does not want to create uneasiness with others. Do not trouble anyone else.
That’s why talking on your phone is not permitted in public transportation, as you may create uneasiness with others.
In business situations, you have to have meetings before the real meeting so that by the time the real meeting comes, you are already in agreement. The real meeting is just a formality to exchange gifts, smile and not cause any trouble or awkwardness with sentences like, “No, I don’t agree with this. You need to come up with something better”. Honour and saving face is very important.
And, I remember reading about how the Japanese usually do not invite people for dinner because then the other person, not wanting to disappoint, would be forced to say yes, even if he or she can’t really go. So, to keep everyone’s honour intact and avoid awkwardness, they don’t even ask at all.
Still, as fascinated as we are about this, nothing fascinated me more than to see those two homeless people with their neat little overnight temporary cardboard apartments.
Even when seen as “unsuccessful” in society, they carried themselves with great honour. They still bowed to the world, they didn’t hit anyone up for money, and they set their sleeping places when everyone has gone home so as not to create trouble for anyone. And, I was sure they would not be there when the mall opens.
I remember tearing in the bus as it drove away. I kept my eyes on those two makeshift cardboard sleeping quarters as long as I could until the bus turned a corner. It wasn’t just tears of sadness for them. I was also feeling inspired.
I was feeling inspired because they taught me a very important lesson. It’s so easy for us to forget our dignity when we are faced with hardships life occasionally throws at us.
We cry. We break down. We blame the world. We create trouble for everyone to help us.
We forget to hold our heads up high.
We shouldn’t.
For, it is when we carry ourselves with honour, when we hold our heads up high no matter what problems we are facing that we not only retain our humanity, dignity and self-respect, but also gain the strength to overcome obstacles.
The writer works in the production of TV, film and music content and gets panicky trying to figure out his next tweet