Itonami Hiwai knows it must be summer, because he’s feeling the familiar buzz of excitement over what to do on his one day summer vacation that his employer generously allows him to take. “I might spend eight hours in traffic driving to a beach which is more cigarette butts than sand, or watch a high school baseball tournament featuring highly recruited teenagers. What I’d really like to do though, is go to some kind of event with lots of gangster-run food stands selling sub-standard food. That way I can check out some babes in yukata, which I can then deeply reflect on later that evening.”
For the 42 year old batchelor, the one day off policy is a matter of pride. “I know that the Germans and Canadians get more time-off, but this shows that many of them are surplus to requirements. My company, on the other hand, needs me and values me. I’m the linchpin, the keystone, the guy who knows the photocopier’s secret handshake. Hence, their reluctance to give me something that I’m actually entitled to by law. Also, I don’t want to be a problem for my colleagues who would have to take on my workload. Just the thought of them having to handle one extra customer interaction a day is too much for me to entertain. I’d never burden them like that.”
When asked if he ever dreams of more than one day off, Hiwai looks as though he doesn’t fully comprehend the premise of the question. “More days? Nah. One’s enough to keep the soul flickering. Any more, and I might start questioning why my office chair is far less comfortable than a seat on the Ginza Line, or other equally philosophical matters. I’m good, thanks. Not only is one day all I can get, it also happens to be all that I desire.”
