JAPAN: Business booms for japanese therapists offering dish-smashing stress relief therapy

Record ID: 463498

  • Title: JAPAN: Business booms for japanese therapists offering dish-smashing stress relief therapy
  • Date: 22nd December 2008
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (DECEMBER 21, 2008) (REUTERS) SQUARE IN AKIHARABA, DOWNTOWN TOKYO KATSUYA HARA, HEAD OF THE 'VENTING PLACE' CALLING OUT TO PASSERS-BY AND OFFERING THEM THE CHANCE TO BREAK DISHES MORE OF HARA TRYING TO CALL IN BUSINESS CROWDS IN AKIHABARA THIRTY-FIVE YEAR-OLD PRINTING COMPANY SALESMAN, MASAKI OGAWARA, THROWS A CUP AS HE SWEARS OGAWARA BREAKING ANOTHER CUP OGAWARA THROWING AGAIN OGAWARA LEAVING THE VAN (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) THIRTY-FIVE YEAR-OLD PRINTING COMPANY SALESMAN, MASAKI OGAWARA, SAYING: "Life is pretty complicated and there are a lot of things to worry about right now so this was refreshing. I now feel like I can start afresh again tomorrow."
  • Embargoed: 6th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAWLV2ZQT5EGKVP86DNAEH7GB7
  • Story Text: In a corner of Tokyo's bustling electronic gadget shopping district on Sunday (December 21), a group of chiropractor were offering the locals a novel way to relax and forget the worries of the year-end.
    The leader of this group, Katsuya Hara, called out to the crowds offering to dish out some anti-stress therapy in their very own mobile plate-smashing therapy booth parked nearby in a truck they've named "The Venting Place".
    At least on this Sunday, business was booming as passer-by after passer-by dropped in to break a few cups, bowls and plates.
    The cost of such therapy depended on how much you wished to destroy.
    Small cups went for 200 yen ($2.20 U.S. dollars) each, while the bigger porcelain dishes could be smashed to smithereens for 1,000 yen ($11 U.S.
    dollars).
    Masaki Ogawara, a 35-year-old salesman from a printing company, was one such passer-by who walked in, donned some protective gear, grabbed some cups and vented his anger verbally and physically as he threw tableware against the concrete slabs set up inside the truck.

    "Life is pretty complicated and there are a lot of things to worry about right now so this was refreshing. I now feel like I can start afresh again tomorrow," Ogawara explained after he left the booth visibly a happier man.
    I.T. consultant Shigeo Sasaki, who also took out some of his stress on the unfortunate porcelain cups, said it was a stroke of luck he came across this service while shopping with his wife and child.

    "It's recession here and recession there. All everyone talks about is the recession. In my company it' also 'you can't do that or you can do this', like we can't expense taxi rides. I was feeling pent up and was looking for a way to release some of that when I had the good fortune to come across this place here," Sasaki told Reuters.
    Katsuya Hara, the head of this anti-stress project, said dish-smashing is a proven scientific therapy that is slowly gaining recognition around the world.

    "To break something, as all of us know from experience, is something extremely exhilarating and it helps bring down one's pent up anger levels," he said.
    Hara added the majority of his customers are business men and women who are stressed out with their jobs and with the financial crisis, even in this shopping district.

    "We hope to become the new way businessmen relieve their stress, part and parcel with drinking, singing and now hopefully smashing dishes," he added.
    All the shards of his dishes, Hara said, are sent to be recycled in order to make more cups and plates to help people vent pent up anger and stress. So creating waste and hurting the environment is one less thing to be stressed about.
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