The Kid Should See This

A Japanese social club cleans public toilets as a weekend hobby

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Every Sunday morning in Tokyo, a group of 35 people and their kids get together to clean public toilets. From AP

45-year-old (Masayuki) Magome, who runs an architecture agency, started the group in 2011, and says that for many members, this activity has lead to a sort of spirit cleansing ritual, and it is similar to one of the trainings Buddhist monks endure to find peace of heart…

“We do not think of this as volunteer work,” says computer programmer Satoshi Oda. “We get together and do this for our own good. Or at least, I used to. Now, I come mostly because it’s a lot of fun.”

The children, also liberated from the common conception that toilets are something to make fun of, seem to have as much fun as the adults.

They call themselves Benjyo Soujer, “a combination of the Japanese word for lavatory and a play on the Japanese word for ‘cleaner’ and the English word ‘soldier’.”

See more pride in hard work — The Last Ice Merchant and NYC’s Pothole Repair Crew to name two — and more videos about community in the archives. 

via Neatorama.


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