Japan: The Man Who Lives Praising Passersby

In a country perpetually torn between prosperity and loneliness, success and abandonment—we're talking about Japan—a man has become a star on social media and among the street crowd for the unique way he begs for help. He doesn't reach out, he doesn't show his crippled status, he doesn't expose his underage children, but he wanders Tokyo's busiest streets holding only a sign with this inscription: I praise it very much. A simple and direct way to create the chemistry ofempathy and trigger that spring that then, perhaps, leads to the gift. 

The man is famous on social media, but no one knows his true identity. The only things known are that he was born and raised in Ibaraki Prefecture, is 42 years old, and ended up begging for two reasons: his family's financial ruin and his gambling addiction. But once he was broke, the man wanted to give a pop image to his choice, trying not to humiliate himself with the classic begging method, and staging a sort of performance, even provocative to the Japanese DNA. And indeed, curiosity about him has gone viral, and who knows, maybe the man who makes a living praising passersby will soon be able to return to his own home and a normal life. 

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