On the way to work, most people probably aren’t in the best of moods. It can be stressful going in to work every day knowing the economy is struggling. This is especially true in Japan, where BusinessWeek reported that industrial production fell last month and the unemployment rate stayed at its lowest level since March of last year. According to the Huffington Post, Japan’s Aya Saito is doing her part to make sure people go into work with a small on their faces.
Saito, who left her job in August 2009 because she was feeling too much stress herself, decided to go to Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station and cheer up commuters. She does so in one of the more novel ways I’ve ever heard of — dressing up in a cheerleader’s costume and dancing to fun tunes, like Toni Basil’s “Mickey.” She’s been doing this nearly every day, even braving sub-zero temperatures to do it. And it might even be making a difference. As Saito was quoted at the New Tang Dynasty Television site, “One guy said he was going to quit his job but decided to stay after watching me dance here. That kind of thing makes me feel that my cheerleading is worthwhile.”
You can count yourself fortunate if you like going to work every single day, and even those who love their job have those days where it’s a bit of a drag to go to work. If Saito can make commuters feel at least a little more upbeat about the daily grind, then it definitely is worthwhile. And who knows — maybe she’ll have some other people joining her eventually, or this cheerleading movement could even spread to other train stations around the world.
Photo by je1196 via stock.xchng.
