Yesterday (Saturday my time) I did a shoot for a TV drama called 奇跡体験！アンビリバボー in which I was a cop who saved a woman who had been stuck in a trunk of a car for a while. That was certainly a fun job, especially getting to wear the costume (pictures have been posted). But that was not the most rewarding part of my evening. Albert Malik and I parted ways at Shinjuku station on the way home, and I went to the platform of the train that would later take me home. As I waited, a stumbling-drunk man passed in front of me across the whole station, walking dangerously close to the edge of the platform. Everyone was thinking the same thing: “The way that guy is stumbling and how close he is to the edge of the platform, he is definitely going to fall onto the tracks.” They were not just thinking it, but staring at him and saying it out loud. I looked around and saw every single person staring at this guy but no one taking action to solve this problem. So I closed my Nintendo 3DS and followed the guy closely enough to grab his backpack within half a second’s notice and pull him back onto the platform if necessary. Everyone there was too shy to take action, and I was also shy. But in my mind I would rather be embarrassed for a few moments in front of a few strangers I will never meet again than to live the rest of my life knowing that the only reason this guy is dead is because I was to shy to move in front of a bunch of strangers. The guy finally started to go over the edge. I was aiming for his backpack but got his arm and pulled him back, and then pushed him forcibly away from the edge of the platform. He was so drunk he didn’t even know what happened, so he just stared at me for a while and then finally said, “Oh, sank yoo, sank yoo.” He put his arm around me for support and I lead him to the center of the platform where he could not possibly fall off. Shortly after, someone alerted the station staff and a woman came running down to the platform to take care of him. I went back to the spot where I had originally been waiting. I don’t believe I saved his life because the train was 3 minutes away and would have had plenty of time to stop once that button was pushed, but I likely saved him from injury and an unnecessary delay for the rest of the passengers. But I have mixed feelings about the situation as a whole. Japan has a thing called “hammering down the nail” which takes place from junior high through high school and it means that anyone who sticks out will be hammered so hard he or she will fear the thought of standing out ever again for life. This is actually often a good thing, as I would say it is one thing that keeps crime as low as it is and helps people work as a team rather than as a bunch of individuals. But it’s also exactly why everyone else was willing to stare at this guy, suspecting fully well that he was going to fall onto the tracks, but not to step up to the plate and do something about it. The person who actually ended up saving him from falling onto the tracks was an American who certainly endured some hammering in those days but strictly ignored it. I don’t believe either system is correct or perfect, and I do believe they each have something to learn from each other. I have my own flaws, but I can tell you that today was on of the most rewarding days of my life. I may have put on a cop’s uniform earlier in the day for a TV show, but I didn’t need a uniform to step up to the plate, ignore the looks people may have been giving me, keep this guy off the tracks, and perform my civic duty. L. Spiro
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 17:57:29 +0000
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