They say that Japanese people become masters of their craft, no matter what that craft may be. The more time you spend in Japan, the more evident this becomes as you begin to notice not just the celebrated masters but also those who are unrecognised in their everyday duties and jobs. A few months ago we published a video clip by American journalist Charli James, who brought worldwide attention to the shinkansen cleaners' '7-minute miracle'. Now, Israeli artist Erez Sitzer brings us an equally inspiring clip that captures just three minutes in Miyako the stationmaster's daily job yet it's enough to make us feel a little dreamy – and perhaps sit up a little straighter at our desks. Because, if you were a stationmaster, could you really see yourself putting as much love as Miyako does into waving off a train?
Sitzer says he discovered Miyako by chance while searching for a small countryside train station to photograph. He saw how much care she put into smiling at each disembarking passenger and then decided to film her as she waved off the departing train. 'Surprisingly, she continued waving. She waved until there was no trace left of the distant train. No-one witnessed her, except, well, me,' he says. 'When I spoke to her later, she said at first she felt so shy and hardly waved at all. Slowly, over time, she began doing something she neither needed to do nor imagined she ever would.'
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