Today, many people think that the most pitiful ethnic group in the world is the "elderly living alone": they have no family to live with, no partners, and no neighborly communication. Eating convenience store bento for three meals a day, and finally dying alone is unknown.
But is the old man who lives alone really so pitiful? To this day, I have met many elderly people who live alone and are full of vitality, who are not very wealthy, but who are in a cabin, buried in the things they have always been passionate about since they were young (maybe books or records, or cats or adult movies). There is no pressure of work, no interpersonal distractions, and certainly no uneasiness about the future. They are a group of energetic young people, only slightly older.
Imported supplies grocery store operator: Suwon Kazumi
"People of the same generation are very boring, so neither is a friend of my generation"
Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, is full of shopping streets with closed roller shutters, and only one shop is different and shiny. This is an eighteen-year-old shop, RASTA, selling all kinds of imported groceries in reggae style and ethnic style. Ms. Kazumi Suwon, a seventy-eight-year-old shopkeeper, is also the queen who dominates The Avant-Garde Culture of Tottori.
When she was young, Ms. Suwon married a wealthy husband who ran a pharmacy, and after her husband fell ill in a huge debt, Ms. Suwon took care of her husband while working to pay back the money until her husband's death. In 1994, Ms. Suwon closed her husband's pharmacy and opened RASTA.
Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Thailand, Nepal, India, Laos, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia... The goods in the shop come from all over the world, but there are no cheap road goods. When she heard that a cargo ship from Africa had arrived in Osaka, Ms. Suwon immediately drove to Minami Port to buy it and bought all the things on board.
In the past, there were many bad boys here, and they came to the store in groups of three or five, and threw the goods everywhere and made a mess. Ms. Suwon would lock the door first and shout angrily, "Good boy, what the hell are you messing with!" Don't tidy it up for me yet! The group of boys whispered, "Big Mama is angry." ”
After experiencing some angry remarks from Ms. Suwon, there are not a few young people who have turned to her like their own mother and have come and gone. Although some children are lectured by Ms. Suwon and sometimes accept her "iron fist sanctions", they still come to the store every day to show their faces and slowly become helpers in the store; and many more children work hard because they like Ms. Suwon's selection of dresses, so they work hard and buy the clothes in the store little by little, and their dressing style has completely changed into RASTA style.
Life is like a drama, and half a life has passed in the blink of an eye. Now Ms. Kazumi Suwon is surrounded by young people and living a stable life... After the day's business at the store, sometimes Ms. Suwon would go for a ride with the children who came by car. On Sundays, the shop was closed, and the children would even invite her to the hot springs with her, to eat at home, or to have a few drinks. Although the age difference is more than fifty years, there are always no less than two young people who circle around Ms. Suwon like this.
Ms. Suwon said, "I often get angry, but one day, when those children are in trouble, if I can remember, 'Ah, my aunt said these things at that time', then I will be satisfied." ”
No matter what era you are in, or have a good face, or have a style, or marry into a rich family, or have a long reputation, perhaps the "victory" life of a woman is also diverse and different. However, being so surrounded and followed by young people with such a large age difference, every day is lively and noisy, and it is the next day when I come back to God, which way can I not help but sigh, what other way to win such a life.
Fifty years apart in age, good friends, Ms. Suwon and Ingijun. While working two jobs, Yin Jijun took time to come to the store and came every day
Before coming here, it was ordinary, and after a few months, it was completely assimilated by the fashion of Lady Suwon. Before (left) and after use (right) of a regular customer
Ms. Suwon, surrounded by young people
The store is full of intriguing words... In the picture on the left, in order: "The use of toilets is prohibited", "What can be taken away after death is 'virtue'", "Those who have the will to do things", "Whether it is expensive or cheap, depending on the guests themselves"
Waseda Shochiku Film Theater Cleaner: Yukiko Getno
"Won't get bored because there is not a moment of idleness in the mind"
From Waseda students to veteran iron fans, waseda Shochiku Film Theater is loved by a wide audience. Needless to say, it also has a feature that is hardly seen in other cinemas – theatre entrances, corners of halls, toilet shelves... If you pay a little attention, you'll find a lot of fun and cute handicrafts.
Food trays for side dishes, plastic bamboo leaves for sashimi, milk cartons, snacks... Just stack these materials that are not used in daily life to form a fun small landscaping. Although each piece is small, if you look closely, the look on your face can't help but become relaxed - there is a warm feeling. Not only that, but when you come back in a week, you'll find that it's quietly replaced with new works.
The crafts were made by 78-year-old Ms. Yukiko Ogino. She is Waseda Shochiku's oldest "godmother," yet she is neither a projectionist in a film theater nor a member of the management department. Every morning, she would clean the corners of the theater—she was the cleaning aunt.
According to Ms. Masahiro Kikuda, the manager of the film theater, Ms. Hagino has been working here for more than eighteen years, and she has often brought her works to the theater since she has a memory.
After her husband cheated on her family at an early age and her children got married, Ms. Ogano lived alone. Every morning at five o'clock, she took the first bus to the theater and worked until 6:30 a.m. The glass door at the entrance to the theater was also the responsibility of Ms. Ogano, who polished the glass door brightly, without a hint of ambiguity. This is because she dipped the rag in hot water and twisted it vigorously, and then wiped the glass clean with a rag with hot water. She doesn't use glass cleaners. She said that if you rub it with detergent, you will see a rainbow from the side of the glass. To rub out that transparency, it's best to use hot water.
When she picks up things that can be used at work, Ms. Ogino collects them, and she will also patch up the cracks of the dolls and make them beautiful, thinking that she will use them in the future. It takes about five hours to make a new work, and her current work is called "Children Grow Up Without Parents", which is made of a lot of plush dolls she picked up, and she feels that "these doll dolls are discarded by 'parents'".
In the eyes of the world, Ms. Hagino is just a cleaning aunt. Audiences in the theater, even the staff, rarely see her, and she is almost transparent. Ms. Hagino doesn't make a big fuss about what she does as "art," and she never says she's an artist. It's been almost twenty years since Ms. Ogino used small crafts like this to bring a moment of warmth to everyone. The theater's website even has a column by Ms. Ogano. There are many fans of Ms. Natsuno in the audience, and she is also loved by the staff.
Not a luxurious bouquet, nor a potted phalaenopsis orchid. It's like a little flower on the side of the road— a person quietly sowing a little happiness. Maybe Ms. Ogino is such a person.
Works by Ms. Ogino
Left: The conscience of the famous painting seat circle - Waseda Shochiku, still retaining the appearance of the past Right: Look at the jungle of the self-service ticket vending machine...
"Lady Hagino Area" quietly appeared
Left: The material is diverse, but it's all waste Right: Dolls and the p.snippets in them ("Are you okay?"). ") makes people happy
Lady Ogino's well-lit bedroom
Ms. Ogino taped the parts of the remote control that were not used, which made it more efficient to use
Left: Materials needed to make a small landscaping Right: A plush toy picked up by Ms. Ogino
Ms. Hagino brought dirt from the construction site to fill in the height gap between the shoulders of the road, "so that the children can play with peace of mind."
Liquor Izakaya "Kasumura" Master: Yukihiko Kasumura
"24 hours all for your own use"
If you walk a little north along the Hanami Path from Shijo-dori, and then to the east, there is a small two-story building on the left-hand side, which exudes the atmosphere of the Showa era, as if only the time for this building has stopped.
Stepping on the creaking staircase to the second floor, there is a kanban board of "Foreign Sake Izakaya Isomura" in the innermost part, which is this shop. In Gion, Isomura is one of the famous shops that no one knows. From the actors filmed at the Taiqin Studio to the Kabuki performers performing in the nearby Minamiza, whenever they come to Kyoto, they "have to come to this shop no matter what."
Born in Kyoto, the seventy-eight-year-old owner of Isomura, Aiso has always been a single free man. He starts his day in the café every morning, going to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, watching movies on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and opening the store in the evening. On rest days and holidays, Iso would go to Tokyo and Hakata to see theater. This immutable way of life, which he has continued for forty-seven years since the opening of Isomura, is truly extraordinary.
"Personal life is really ideal, doing what you love. You can spend all your time on yourself. No children and wife, 24 hours a day, just for their own use. ”
When Iso was thirty-eight years old, Mr. Takakura ran a gym in Toei, where Kitaji Shinya and Mr. Kuniyoshi Tanaka (both well-known Japanese actors) also worked out. Tanaka Kunibi led Aiso to the gym together, "He is two years older than me, but he can snap his legs apart, and then he can put his chest on the floor, and he can also help run over the pads." Ah Ji was pressed by the fitness instructor, his body was still thirty centimeters away from the floor, and his mouth shouted "so painful, so painful." He joined the membership the next day and has been working out for forty years ever since.
As for the secret of persistence, Ah Ji said that it was to publicize his going to the gym and the people around him: "So if someone asks me later, have you not gone to the gym?" I can't hang my face. ”
Aji did the project in the gym, how to do it at the age of forty, and still maintains how to do it. There was no increase in items and no increase in weight. But what forty can do, it can do now: "I don't want to get stronger." As long as you can keep it up, even if you are old, you can maintain this state. ”
"Isomura" this shop refuses to be a guest. "My shop doesn't need any entrance fees. As long as it is the person who has left an impression on my mind, it becomes a member. The son will replace the father and the grandson will succeed the son, "only in this shop, there will be the great-grandchildren of the regular customers."
That being said, if you drink in Isomura, you will really see all kinds of big people appear. Guests include filmmakers, directors, and actors, as well as Kabuki actors and geisha. From Kitaoji Shinya, who is called "Shinya Sauce" by Aiso, to Shintaro Katsu, there are countless celebrities who drink and have fun at this bar.
Men, women and children, all kinds of guests sat at the bar of "Isomura", but the loudest voice, the straightest back, the sharpest, the most spirited, no matter when it was seventy-eight-year-old Aji, it must be him.
"Isomura" is located in the corner of Gion, the second floor of a two-story building that stands quietly between the buildings. This building, called Okki Kaikan, has a Showa flavor in its name and appearance. Because it originally doubled as a restaurant and residence, the interior of the building is deeply in the Kyoto style
Cut open the ice cubes that were sent, and Aiso was preparing to open for business
Left: Stickers with dance skills Right: For the maiko and geisha in Gion, Aiso is an important father
postscript
Every month, week, and day, I was chased by deadlines, and I didn't have time to think about "how to live", but I sometimes thought about "how to die".
Just recently, a survey said that Japan's "54,000 elderly people over the age of 100" now have an average life expectancy of 86.41 years for women and 79.94 years for men. In Japan, one of the world's few ultra-aged countries, "how to get old" and "how to die" may be far more practical questions than "how to stay young."
Through a large number of interviews, I have met many elderly people so far. There are very rich and there are also very poor; Some look happy, some look sad. From this, I think that the so-called "winners" and "losers" of life, in the end, do not look at property or fame, but look at whether a person can say "Ah, my life is really interesting" five seconds before dying. No matter how much money, subordinates, or family you have around you, when you die, if you think of "I actually want to play music" or "I want to paint", this is a failed life.
At the end of the day, "fighting aging" doesn't make any sense. After all, no one can escape "death". Compared to this, I feel that the grandparents I meet are telling me from personal experience that "fighting the way the world imagines aging" is much more important.
It's not that I want to live a long life, but if I can really live to the age of "grandpa", I don't want to imitate those who are clumsy and "old, and have an epiphany and do good". Rather than being a "good grandpa with rich experience and keen insight", I would rather be a "hard to serve grandpa", running all the way and finally throwing myself forward, so that it is much more exciting. (Source: Tencent News)
Chaplin
clown
Sakato Sanaru, dancer
Shintaro: Ginyu Singer
Makoto Toko: Painter
Prince Yutoku Akiyama, artist
3rd Generation Hasegawa Eihachiro: Tsugaru shamisen player
Written by | Du Chikuichi Photography | All Chikuichi Editor| Baishi Produced | Tencent News Guyu Studio
Producer | Yang Ruichun Editor-in-Chief| Zhao Hanmo Responsible Editor| Li Jia Operation | Zhang Xiao Hu Yuan
The content of this article is excerpted from Nova Publishing House's "Old Man Living Alone", with deletions.
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