According to an NHK TV survey, 1 in 7 minors in Japan is in a "state of poverty."
So there is such a group of high school students, most of their time and energy, spent on subsistence.
A Japanese NHK documentary "The Spring of the Journey of the Poor and Busy People of High School Students" introduces us to this special group of workers - the poor and busy people in high schools.
The protagonist in the film is a typical representative of the "poor and busy people of high school students".
There are brothers who depend on each other after the death of their fathers, and there are dream girls who have to earn their own tuition.
"Obviously, I was still a child, but I was forced to become an adult." This sentence could not be more appropriate to describe them.
Their "youth" is not the same as most people...
01
Tsubasa Kawakami & Akira Kawakami
Kawakami Wing, 22, and Yu Kawakami, 18, are two brothers.
They live together in Saitama Prefecture.
At present, the house rented by the brothers is 50,000 yen per month, which is borne by the government minimum guarantee.
But the rest is up to them to figure out for themselves.
Brother Kawakami's daily life began not from school, but from the Udon shop.
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Kawakami went to work at the Udon shop almost every day.
His monthly income is 80,000 yen (about 4,000 yuan).
However, the miscellaneous expenses of electricity, gas, transportation, and food at home will exceed 100,000 yen (about 5,000 yuan) per month.
Due to economic constraints, all living expenses at home can be saved.
One of Kawakami's shoes has been worn for four years, and he spends only 20,000 yen (about 1,000 yuan) a month for food.
Open the refrigerator and there are almost no ingredients in it except for some necessary condiments.
At the worst time, the family tried to pay the gas bill and the electricity bill at the same time.
The brothers had not eaten for two whole days, and they still went to a friend's house to rub rice to solve the problem.
After finishing his part-time job, Kawakami rushed to the timed high school to study.
At this time, his younger brother Kawakami Yu, who finished class, also began a working life.
Working from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., you can earn 50,000 yen (about 2,500 yuan) a month.
Mr. Kawakami said that it was not enough to rely on his brother's salary alone, and he had to come out to work.
At 9:30 p.m., Kawakami leaves class from timed high school to make dinner for himself and his brother.
Today, my brother makes cheese fat beef rice bowl.
He said his brother liked to eat cheese, so he added more.
At the dinner table, the brother asked the younger brother if dinner was good, and the younger brother said 30 points.
The brother jokingly replied, "You arrogant petite."
During the interview, the duplicitous brother said his heartfelt thanks to his brother.
He said his brother had given him too much help to help him.
The brother takes care of himself like the characters of dad and mom.
After their parents divorced 10 years ago, the brothers lived with their father.
But in the second year of Kawakami's second year of high school, his father died.
After that, there were only two brothers left in the family.
The two brothers depend on each other, and as the younger brother said, Kawakami wing fully assumes the role of mother and father.
After his father's death, his brother had the idea of dropping out of school, but his younger brother encouraged him all the time.
The brothers talked for a long time and decided, "Let's work together."
On the eve of his high school graduation, Kawakami officially quit his job at the Udon shop.
Colleagues in the store teamed up to buy a cake and practice it for him.
The comment given to him by the store manager was:
"You have worked in this store for 3 years and 9 months, and your work has always been very serious and responsible, and you have won the praise and trust of your customers.
I really think you're doing a really good job."
The friends in the shop told him that we were here in the restaurant, and if you didn't have food, come here.
Hearing this, Kawakami finally couldn't help but shed tears.
All along, as an older brother, he had to stay strong and set an example in front of his younger brother.
It wasn't until this moment that everyone realized that he was just a big boy.
In recent years, the number of high school students who go to school while working is gradually increasing in Japan.
Most of them are people who rely on their parents' income and cannot meet the needs of living expenses and tuition fees.
In a survey of 2,500 public high school students, the following results showed:
Half of the students who work part-time work for living expenses.
02
Youko
The girl in the picture who is talking with her friends is Yuko, who is in her third year of high school.
From her, she can't see anything different from her peers, but her daily life is completely different from her friends.
Youko's mother supports three children every day by doing odd jobs.
But the 180,000 yen (9,100 yuan) earned each month is still not enough to support a family of four.
The sensible Yuko goes to work at an izakaya every evening after school.
She works 5 hours on weekdays, but 10 hours on weekends.
At Izakaya, she earns 80,000 yen (about 4,000 yuan) a month.
Of that, 50,000 yen will be given to my mother to subsidize her family, and the remaining 30,000 yen will be saved for Youko's college tuition.
Because her mother is too busy to take care of the family, the affairs of the family are handled by Youko.
Youko not only took care of all the household chores in the family, but also took care of her two younger siblings.
Most of the ingredients in the family, as well as the daily necessities of younger siblings, are also bought with money earned from Youko's part-time job.
Youko took out the new sneakers she had just bought for her brother two days ago, and her happiness was overflowing when she talked about how happy her brother was when she received the shoes.
After finishing the family's chores in the morning, Yuko can finally go out to school.
At lunchtime, Youko takes a bag of 70 yen (about 3.5 yuan) of bread from her bag.
Saying that it is bread is actually the dry hard bread side that the merchant cheaply handles.
Youko used to bring a bento, but the ingredients for the bento were still too expensive for her.
After discovering this cheap bread at school, Yuko began to eat only this for lunch.
Frugal, she has been reducing her living expenses, even giving up her future in order to take care of her family.
Yuko's academic performance has always been among the best in the school, but she decided not to go to university and go to college.
Because of this, you can go out to work quickly and help your mother take care of the family.
She wants her younger siblings to have a better life.
Yuko, who is still in high school, is already ready to take on the heavy responsibility of the family.
As an adult, she said, she took care of her younger siblings as a matter of course.
When her sister was not at home, Hanako, who was in the 6th grade of elementary school, took the place of her sister to do housework.
While cooking, I choked up and said of my sister: "I really have a very good sister, (I) live with gratitude every day."
Although Youko gave up on entering the university, she still had a dream of a flight attendant.
In order to raise 320,000 yen (about 16,000 yuan) of tuition fees before entering school, Youko worked day and night.
In the gap between breaks, she is still racing against the clock to learn Chinese.
To this end, Yuko has been home at 11 p.m. for several days in a row.
She said that when she was tired, she wanted to leave everything behind, but then she would lose, so she chose to grit her teeth and insist.
In April, when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, Yuko ushers in her high school graduation ceremony.
The good news is that tuition fees at flight attendant schools have been initially raised.
Yuko said hopefully, "In the future, I will be closer to my dream little by little."
Kawakami wing and Kawakami Yu also welcomed their own high school graduation ceremony.
The brothers' graduation ceremony was held on the same day.
In the morning, the older brother put on a suit that he rarely wore usually and attended his brother's graduation ceremony in place of his parents.
In the afternoon, it was my brother's graduation ceremony, and this time it was my brother's turn to tie up and witness his brother's important moments.
The older brother wrote a letter to his younger brother when he graduated:
"Thank you for supporting me in my late high school years;
Thank you for walking with me;
Thank you for working so hard;
Also, thank you for your birth."
At the age when they should be carefree, they have to bear the burden of life, and such a life is undoubtedly heavy for them.
But in such a difficult situation, they did not become depressed.
Instead, it is to live harder, find a way out, and open up your life with diligent hands.
Even though they weren't as lucky as most of their peers, these "high school poors" didn't complain.
They sincerely and diligently live in this world, supporting and warming the most important "bondage" of this life with love.
As long as we have faith, even in the face of adversity, each of us has the hope of breaking through the shackles of fate.
In the future, there are more wonderful lives waiting for them.
Written, Edited / Eric
Image source/network
Responsible Editor / Seven Seven