As passers-by look on suspiciously, a group of university students works the streets on a mission to change Japan — by making people hug.
Inspired by Australian Juan Mann, who has earned international fame through the Internet by standing in Sydney with a sign reading "FREE HUGS," the students are determined to shake up a culture famous for its reserve.
They spend weekends in trendy Harajuku holding their replica of Mann's sign and throwing their arms around anyone who takes them up on the offer.
PHOTO: AFP
"You guys made my day!" said Steve, 28, an American just out of hospital and walking with crutches.
A Belgian family recently settled in Japan came over, the mother encouraging her toddler Chloe to hug the students. After a bashful embrace, Chloe walked away smiling.
But the people who accept hugs are nearly all foreigners, with most Japanese looking away.
Saki Inoue, 22, said she launched the campaign after returning from a year in Los Angeles. Back in Japan she longed for physical contact with strangers beyond being crammed together on trains.
Inoue said discovering Mann's campaign helped cheer her up. "I was so depressed when I came back to Japan, feeling that I could not fit in my home country," she said. "Everybody looked so cold and indifferent. I missed people's smiles, and the welcoming spirit I experienced in the US.
"Like myself before, many Japanese people still look so depressed and unhappy. Sometimes I almost cannot help asking them, 'Are you okay? Are you happy with your life?'"
Casual physical contact is traditionally frowned upon in Japan. Even the word for hugging — "hoyo" — is awkward in Japanese, with young people preferring to use the English term.
For Inoue, bringing smiles to people is at the root of the campaign. "We are rich and have everything today, but how rich are we inside?"
(Catherine Thomas, Staff writer with AFP)
路人持懷疑的眼光看著一群大學生，他們正在街頭進行一項改變日本的任務─讓民眾相互擁抱。
受到澳洲人胡安?曼恩鼓舞的這群學生，決定要顛覆民風保守的日本。曼恩在雪梨街頭舉牌提供「免費擁抱」的舉動，透過網路傳播，使他名揚國際。
有好幾個週末，他們在流行指標的原宿區舉著仿製曼恩的標語，對願意回應他們擁抱的民眾張開雙臂。
剛出院、還拄著枴杖的二十八歲美國青年史提夫說：「你們讓我的一天更加美好！」
一個不久前才定居日本的比利時家庭走了過來，媽媽鼓勵正在學步的克洛伊擁抱這些學生。害羞地擁抱過後，克洛伊帶著笑容離開。
不過，接受擁抱的幾乎都是外國人，日本人多半看一眼就走開。
二十二歲的井上沙紀（譯音）表示，她在洛杉磯生活一年返國後便發起這項活動。回到日本後，她渴望在人擠人的電車以外，還能與陌生人有肢體的接觸。
井上表示，她發現曼恩的活動令她振奮。她說：「我回到日本後相當沮喪，感覺自己無法融入故鄉。每個人看起來都冷酷又冷漠，我懷念在美國感受到的笑容和好客精神。」
「許多日本人看起來就跟我以前一樣，沮喪又不快樂。有時我幾乎忍不住想問他們：『你們好嗎？你們滿意現在的生活嗎？』」
在日本傳統上，不必要的肢體接觸令人不悅，就連說「抱擁」（日文，擁抱之意）也很尷尬，所以年輕人寧可用英文詞彙來代替。
對井上來說，這項活動是為了讓人們微笑。「現在我們生活富裕且擁有一切，但我們的內心呢？」
（法新社／翻譯：林倩如）
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