Selected Columns
Kaleidoscope of the Heart: Everyone needs a helping hand sometime
I'm looking forward to the Sunday release of Yoji Yamada's family drama movie "Ototo" (Younger Brother) starring actress Sayuri Yoshinaga and comedian Tsurube Shofukutei.
Shofukutei plays a man who keeps causing trouble to his elder sister (Yoshinaga) throughout his life.
The reason why I'm looking forward to this movie is I heard a hospice that appears in the story was inspired by "Kibo no Ie" (Hope House), a real hospice located in Tokyo's Sanya district. The hospice cares for homeless people who have no one to turn to in the last days of their lives.
The "Japanese version of Mother Teresa"-like business is run by Masaki Yamamoto and his wife Mie.
Although Mie has a nursing license, Masaki is not a medical worker. Watching news reports on a Japan Airlines crash on Mount Osutaka in 1985 when he was in college, Masaki was driven by a strong desire to live together with those who have been thrown to the depths of hell. After considerable experience in life, Masaki opened Kibo no Ie in 2002 with 21 residents. The background of how he came to start the business is written in his book, titled, "Sanya de hosupisu yatte masu." ("I run a hospice in Sanya").
Many of the people living in Sanya abandoned their hometowns and families, and even turned their backs on their own lives. However, when people come to the hospice, having little time left to live, they will have to rely on caregivers, willingly or not.
No matter how much people may isolate themselves from others, one day they will have to get their diapers changed. And when they share smiles with a caregiver, their lonely heart will heal and their barriers against others will collapse.
The Yamamotos think people had better not try too hard to avoid causing others trouble. According to the couple, if care receivers can realize there are "ways of life where people can be happy to rely on someone," caregivers can also feel fulfilled and happy.
I assume many of us, who have never experienced a sense of isolation, are overly nervous about depending on others in everyday life.
To be afraid of being refused by others or annoying them, we often hold ourselves back from saying things like, "Can I ask you to do this?" and "Can I run something by you?"
However, there actually should be "ways of life where people can be happy to rely on someone." In fact, we cannot live without both depending on people as well as helping them.
I wonder if the "younger brother" in the movie can be "happy to rely on someone" at the end of his life. I think I will go to a movie theater to find that out. (By Rika Kayama, psychiatrist)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) January 31, 2010