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Text: Yang Ce
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introduction
One night in 1989, a group of young people on a street corner somewhere in Hokkaido, Japan, looked nervously around, and after making sure that no one was around, they quickly slipped into a small road, and soon the group disappeared.
The youths, all Chinese, attended the local Akancho branch of Asuka Academy in Japan. Among them was Ding Shangbiao, a 35-year-old young man from Shanghai.
(Ding Shangbiao)
1. Go to a foreign country
Ding Shangbiao used to be an educated youth in rural Anhui, and in the late 80s, he returned to his hometown Shanghai with his family in the mighty wave of returning to his hometown.
Ding Shangbiao, who returned to Shanghai, urgently needed a position. After living in the countryside for a long time, he didn't know any other skills except farming, and he forgot all about book knowledge. He can only find some jobs that no one else is willing to do, and his salary is only a few dozen yuan a month. In the bustling city of Shanghai, it is still too difficult to support the whole family with this meager income.
Since you can't stay in Shanghai, it's better to go to other places to make a living. Ding Shangbiao set his sights on Japan next door.
(Japan Street View)
In the 90s, Japan's economy was booming unprecedentedly, and the DDP of the entire country was second only to that of the United States at that time. For the same job, the income in Japan is dozens of times higher than that in Japan. Not only that, but there is a particularly large shortage of labor in Japan, and people who come to Japan often earn a lot of money. Ding Shangbiao was moved.
Ding Shangbiao plans to borrow money to study in Japan first, and in his spare time studying, he will do odd jobs to pay off debts and subsidize his family, and finally stay in Japan to work. In this way, you can not only make up for the regret of not completing your studies, but also pay off your debts to support your family. It didn't take long for him to start his journey to Japan alone with more than 400,000 yen he had borrowed.
(Ding Shangbiao)
After arriving at the school, Ding Shangbiao was dumbfounded. This school is in Akancho, Hokkaido, a very remote and sparsely populated place. There was not even a supermarket near the school where Ding Shangbiao was going to study, and Ding Shangbiao's desire to work and study while studying was shattered.
I can't work anymore, but I have to spend the same amount of money every month. To go or to stay, Ding Shangbiao is in a dilemma. After some inner struggle, he decided to go to Tokyo, where he could earn money.
So 31 young people who thought the same way as him chose to escape from school one night. In order not to be discovered by the school, a group of people avoided the main road and lights, and only dared to walk from the less crowded path. From time to time, wolves and bears are spotted in the wild, and they also have to prepare sticks to guard against attacks. In Kushiro City, they finally caught the last train to Tokyo at the last minute, and Ding Shangbiao's "escape" was successful.
2. Face the hardships of life
After leaving school, Ding Shangbiao's student visa became invalid, and he became an illegal resident in Japan and a "black household".
(Ding Shangbiao)
In order to make money, he did all the work he could. He worked as a cleaner, a construction worker, a factory worker, and a cook, and because these jobs paid a lot of money per hour, he didn't need identification.
Ding's life in Tokyo is simple: he often takes out the garbage in the morning and goes to two different restaurants in the afternoon and evening to wash the dishes. Many times it was past 12 midnight after the end of the day, and the tram was out of service, so he walked all the way home in the dark along the tracks.
(Ding Shangbiao)
Ding Shangbiao once went to a restaurant to wash dishes, and the owner of the restaurant looked down on illegal residents like Ding Shangbiao, and if he was a little late at his restaurant, he would be deducted a day's wages. One day, Ding Shangbiao had abdominal pain when he went to the restaurant to work part-time, why wasn't he late, he endured the severe pain and rode his bicycle, and finally arrived at the back kitchen at the specified time. While brushing the dishes, he collapsed with a bang, and a group of people rushed him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with "acute enteritis".
Ding Shangbiao once said that his favorite job in Tokyo is as a chef because a chef can take home uneaten ingredients. He took it home and barely made the next day's meal, saving money from selling vegetables.
The rented house is not big, and his house is a few simple daily necessities except for a bed. Every time he goes out, he has to be careful for fear of waking up other tenants and landlords.
(Ding Shangbiao)
Ding Shangbiao looks thinner but very energetic, and his family is his only spiritual sustenance. Although his income is not much, Ding Shangbiao still chooses to send money to his family in China regularly, and only keeps a small part for his living expenses. Even after the debt was paid off, he did not choose to improve his quality of life. In front of his family, he tried his best to avoid mentioning his living situation, and did not want his family in China to worry about him.
Someone once said that the Chinese are as tough as weeds, and Ding Shangbiao is definitely a typical figure among them. When he first started working at a restaurant, he couldn't understand the needs of customers because he didn't understand Japanese, and he was disliked by the boss. He made up his mind to learn Japanese. He prepared a Japanese booklet that he reads in his spare time at work. From not being able to understand Japanese at first, to being able to communicate with people proficiently, and finally even being able to contribute to a local newspaper, he is inseparable from his efforts.
(Ding Shangbiao)
Many types of jobs in Japan require corresponding licenses, and in order to get higher pay, Ding Shangbiao began to study horsepower. After that, he obtained the licenses of welder, gas welder, forklifter, crane worker, sweeper, etc., and his boss and friends were impressed with him, and admired the Chinese man in front of him from the bottom of their hearts.
3. From "black households" to inspirational heroes
Ding Shangbiao stayed in Japan because of his family, he hoped that his family would have a better life and that his daughter would have a bright future. His daughter did not disappoint him, and in 1997, his daughter Ding Lin was successfully admitted to the State University of New York. Before going to school, there is a chance to transfer in Japan, and her daughter Ding Lin hopes to meet her father.
(Ding Shangbiao's family of three)
Because because he wanted to avoid showing his head, Ding Shangbiao chose to meet his daughter in a subway station. I haven't seen each other for many years, and the father and daughter are excited. After seeing her father's work and living place, Ding Lin finally knew that her father's life over the years was not easy. When parting, Ding Lin looked at her father who was gradually moving away, and tears had already soaked her entire eyes.
Ding Shangbiao's wife also stayed in Japan for a while when she went to the United States the following year. Although she had been prepared for a long time, the woman turned her head sadly when she saw her husband living in a room of less than 10 square meters······
(Ding Shangbiao and his wife)
Ding Shangbiao also touched people with his integrity and responsibility. On the eve of returning to China, Ding Shangbiao suddenly came to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau with a thick stack of tax bills, and he confessed his identity as an illegal resident to the office staff of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, and paid the remaining taxes.
After all that was done, he finally returned to China after a 15-year absence, 15 years ago he was in good spirits, and now he has gray hair and sparse teeth. He stayed in Japan for the best of his life, but he brought a good life to his family.
(Ding Shangbiao's family photo)
After Ding Shangbiao left Japan, Ding Shangbiao's deeds spread more widely in Japan. In 1996, Zhang Liling, a Chinese student, used a video camera to record Ding Shangbiao's life. Ten years later, the documentary was finally completed, and she named the documentary "Living with Tears" as the director of a television station, which caused an uproar in Japan.
After the documentary was released in theaters, it was almost full, and the movie posters in the theater hall were plastered with Japanese audiences' impressions.
(Messages from Japanese people)
Ding Shangbiao, who was at the bottom and had a bright heart, resonated deeply with the Japanese, and many Japanese people also changed the stereotype of illegal residents. Ding Shangbiao's deeds have inspired more and more Japanese people to forge ahead, and he himself has become an inspirational hero in the hearts of the Japanese.
Now Ding Shangbiao has left Japan, settled in the United States, bought a house of his own, his daughter has her own business, and the family's life has returned to peace. As the documentary "Living with Tears" said, from Japan, a country where tens of thousands of people commit suicide every year, there was once a Chinese father who was trying his best to live.
Resources:
Living with Tears.Japanese Documentary, 2006-11-03