But Ukon, 61, remembers that particular job for more than just the money: it was the first time he realized that the nature of his work–and Japanese society–was changing. A country that had been consumed with gaining prosperity and maintaining social cohesion in the latter half of the 20th century was starting to fray at the edges–to get needy. Nowadays, more and more Japanese are turning to benriya to fill that need. Like most of Japan’s roughly 10,000 benriya, Ukon still performs various physical tasks for his customers. But increasingly, he’s become more of an amateur counselor and part-time companion.
Lonely old people depend on such handymen for basic human interaction. Parents are searching out benriya to spend time with children who seem isolated or depressed. Some grown-ups who simply can’t clean their rooms ask benriya to do the job. Shame still surrounds psychological problems in Japan, and sufferers can be reluctant to seek professional help. Some call local benriya instead. “What the handymen experience through their jobs clearly shows that people are desperately hungry for close relations with others,” says Masachi Ohsawa, an associate professor of sociology at Kyoto University.
The neediest Japanese may be the elderly. Studies show that more than 3 million Japanese over the age of 65 live alone. At the same time, say sociologists, the graying of the Japanese population has coincided with a weakening of traditional Confucian values, which emphasize family obligations. Although 30 years ago an eldest son could be expected to take care of his aging parents and tend to the family graves, in recent years fewer sons seem interested in the obon (ancestors’ homecoming day) and the graveyard duties that it involves. So benriya accompany older family members to the graveyards, and while there clean the tombstones and lay flowers. They take their elderly charges to the hospital for medical attention. One Tokyo benriya says he was hired by the children of a senile man to visit their father in the hospital, posing as the man’s son.
It’s not just the elderly, though, who need a helping hand. Sociologists say a rising number of Japanese youngsters suffer from a mental malady called hikikomori, or social-withdrawal syndrome. The disorder may afflict more than a million people, with symptoms that can include paranoia and severe anxiety. Ukon allows some of his clients to stay with him for companionship, charging a monthly rent of $830 for accommodations, and even throws a party every Friday to give some of the recluses an opportunity to interact with others. “Some Japanese people, especially youngsters, are sensitive to any [social] frictions,” says Ohsawa. “They are like crabs without a shell, afraid of being hurt.”
These kind of social ailments have caused a surge in the benriya business. Yatsuka Aoki, 54, who has managed a housecleaning and handyman service in Tokyo for more than a decade, remembers the wave of people flocking to his trade three or four years ago. “It was the time when the economy was really going down and salarymen were losing jobs,” says Aoki. “They joined our business because it neither requires much start-up money nor does it need a license or certificate.” Aoki says most tend to come and go, as the handyman’s job demands patience and understanding in order to get to know the people in the community and find clients. It also takes a great deal of empathy. Aoki recalls assisting a disabled man in a wheelchair on a weeklong trip to Hokkaido. His client wished to revisit places of which he had fond memories, but needed someone to accompany him.
Many other benriya have similar on-the-job tales. And that’s exactly the kind of job Masahiko Adachi, a 60-year-old retired executive, wants now that he’s just finished a three-month apprenticeship under Ukon. “I want to make my second career a kind of job that could help other people,” says Adachi. These handymen know better than most that Japan’s success in becoming a modern, affluent society has little to do with happiness and may even have made life lonelier for young and old alike. Until the rest of Japan realizes that many of its citizens are suffering from real disorders or simple neglect, the benriya will be busy with some truly odd jobs.
