Islander in the City

People take various routes to survive through life. Some may by fate be led through soft, carpeted paths while many others get pushed through rocky, hilly, pock-marked roads. But no matter what the trek offers, what’s important is everyone fights a good fight.

But how should we regard those who were waylaid by the roadside? Those who chose to surrender and float, those who see no more reason nor inspiration to find out what’s in store at the end?

These men, they say, used to be accomplished, successful people. But in the thick of the fight for rightful space in the urban jungle that is Japan, many of them lost fame, riches and pride all too suddenly. Government is all too willing to place them under welfare, but they refuse. To most of them, life has taken an unexpected, unbearably painful halt and the end of the road is now right there – in the cold train station floor where they are parked.