Driveway Men

Here are the facts:

• There are more old people than ever before and because of shoshika there are fewer young people to take care of them.
• The Japanese don't have Matlock or bingo clubs to occupy the old men.
• Japanese older women understandably don't want their male partners hanging around the house all day.

So what do you do with all these old men? You turn them into Driveway Men, of course.



Virtually every public driveway in Tokyo is manned by two or three guys, usually older, pimped out in their uniforms and brandishing glow in the dark batons to help drivers enter or exit driveways. And boy do these guys take their job seriously.

When a car comes, they burst into action like penguins on acid, flapping their arms around and letting everyone know a car is coming. It seems like overkill, but actually it is probably very helpful to a driver who might be otherwise stuck for seven or eight years waiting for foot traffic to slow enough to sneak through.