As soon as he entered the boundary of Xicheng District, the lights dimmed significantly.

The surrounding area is desolate, with mostly two-storey houses, old and mottled, and many shacks made of waste cardboard on both sides of the road, which are the homes of local homeless people.

"There really is a 50 yen vending machine!?"

Uncle Shimizu shouted in surprise and quickly walked to the three vending machines side by side under the street lamp.

I saw that there were three red machines, the surface was quite clean, but the style was obviously the old model from more than ten years ago, and the most striking feature was the huge fifty yen logo on both sides of the vending machine.

"Wow, mocha coffee for fifty yen! You can also choose hot and cold!? ”

"Vitamin drink is only 60 yen!"

"Ito-en green tea is only 70 yen!"

As if he had discovered a new world, the uncle shouted excitedly.

The aunt who was drying clothes on the second floor, and in the corner of the small park, the old men who gathered together to drink cheap soju all cast disdainful glances at this guy who had never seen the world.

With the rise of the Internet, the price depression in Xicheng District has become well-known to backpackers all over the world.

A large number of foreign tourists have flocked in search of cheap hotels and food, and over time, local residents have become accustomed to outsiders.

Uesugi Heisuke has been to Nishinari Ward many times in his life, which is why he is so familiar with this place.

When it comes to travel, Uesugi Heisuke has always been a firm believer that if you want to see skyscrapers and see the cityscape, why come to Japan? Let's go straight to Shanghai.

Take a ride along the Huangpu Riverside Trail, and the magnificent buildings on both sides of the river can turn Tokyo and Osaka into scum in seconds, after all, in this world, the name of China's infrastructure madness is not called in vain.

I came to Japan to experience the exotic atmosphere.

So, like all lovers of unpopular travel, Uesugi Heisuke spent his days wandering through the unnamed streets and alleys away from the crowded tourist city, trying to blend in with the locals' lives and try to taste the small restaurants that only the locals know.

In front of the vending machine, Uesugi Heisuke took out two coins from his pocket, both in denominations of five hundred yen, frowned, and handed one of them to Uncle Shimizu.

I have to say that the yen coin is really too bad, 500 yen is equivalent to 33 yuan, what a huge amount of money, it was made into a small coin, if you accidentally lose it, how distressing it is.

"Heisuke, would you like to drink something too?" Uncle Shimizu chose a large pot of craftsman coffee for himself for 90 yen, and turned around to ask Uesugi Heisuke.

"Green tea is fine." Uesugi Heisuke said.

The so-called 50 yen vending machine does not sell everything for 50 yen, but it means that it starts at 50 yen.

For example, a small pot of artisan coffee costs 50 yen, a large jar costs 90 yen, Uesugi Heisuke drinks green tea for 70 yen, and a bottle of 500 ml mineral water costs 60 yen.

In any case, this is already a low price that cannot be found in all of Japan with lanterns, and most vending machines cost more than 100 yen.

The two of them walked deep into Sainari District under the dim street lamp, Uesugi Heisuke drinking green tea and Uncle drinking coffee.

After looking around and getting used to the bright lights of the metropolis, it is also a very special experience to occasionally come to such a barren and deserted neighborhood.

Before he knew it, he had a nightmare of an alley full of cheap inns.

The white light box shows the price of hotel accommodation, which can be as low as 500 yen, which is equivalent to 33 yuan, and you can stay overnight.

"Am I dazzled?" Uncle Shimizu muttered to himself.

"You're not dazzled." "That's the price for accommodation in Nishinari Ward, but 500 yen is the rent for a bed, and the hostel will provide a room for eight people to live together, and the beds are bunk beds, similar to university dormitories," Uesugi Heisuke said. ”

"Single rooms here are also very cheap, usually between 800 and 1,500 yen, and although the rooms are a little smaller, they have a lot of facilities and clean environment, which is very popular with foreign tourists and the homeless."

In the previous life, the company organized a trip to Japan at public expense, not to mention, as long as Uesugi Heisuke paid out of his own pocket, he would choose to live in such a cheap hotel.

First, he can save money, and secondly, he is also close to the local customs, such as Nishinari in the slums of Osaka and the valley of the slums of Tokyo.

Many people think that travel is a very expensive thing to do, but they forget what it is to travel in the first place.

In fact, if you stay at the Shangri-La Hotel or a small hotel in the Xicheng District, the sun will rise in the east as usual, and the flow of people in Shinsaibashi will be just as crowded.

The cherry blossoms in Osaka Castle are always in full bloom at the end of March and wither in mid-April.

If you miss the blooming season, whether you come in first class or economy class, you can only see bare branches.

It can be seen that what you are looking for during a trip will not change because of whether the hotel you live in is luxurious or not, what really prevents you from traveling is the courage to step out of your comfort zone and the mood to see the scenery.

All in all, when Hojo Shimizu came to Nishinari Ward, he immediately discovered a new continent.

There are vending machines that start at 50 yuan, the cheapest hypermarkets in Japan, hotels with incredibly low rents, and many lost people who have no home, no regular jobs, and live on odd jobs every day.

On May 6, 2018, Japan's NHK TV launched a large-scale documentary, [Sanhe Great God].

The film chronicles the Sanhe talent market on the outskirts of Shenzhen, with its dilapidated buildings, cheap Internet cafes, filthy hotels, and cluttered shops.

It records many Chinese young people dozing off in Internet cafes, sleeping on the streets, drinking and smoking numbly, looking for jobs, unemployed, and then looking for new jobs, and the cycle repeats.

In NHK's own words, the purpose of making this documentary was to listen to the voices of the people who support the manufacturing industry from the bottom of society, and to focus on the reality of young migrant workers who are struggling between hope and despair...

It is worthy of being a TV station established in imitation of the old double-standard BBC, and NHK's tone of voice is really high-sounding enough.

Anyway, as soon as this documentary came out, it immediately caused an uproar on Station B, on Douban, and on almost all Chinese networks, causing many Chinese young people with conscience to be greatly shaken and begin to doubt themselves.

Nowadays, looking at the valleys of Nishinari in Osaka and Tokyo, what is the difference between those poor Japanese people who sleep in cardboard boxes and are abandoned by the times, and the gods of Sanhe?

The only difference is that Japan has been a developed country for decades, while China has just emerged from poverty and is still a developing country, and will stay in the developing stage for a long time.

In 2014, Japanese director Shingo Ota made a film about the slums of Xicheng District, called "Vulnerable".

Unexpectedly, the Japanese authorities not only banned the film, but also took the initiative to bribe, stuff him with money, and beg him not to tear off the fig leaf of the authorities, as if as long as everyone didn't say it, the slums in Xicheng District would not exist.

Therefore, Chinese people should actually be more confident, and not self-denial and self-doubt at every turn.

Although humility is a virtue, it is also necessary to learn to look at problems realistically, not to rush to self-criticize and criticize others, and to make things clear first.

As soon as someone says it, you believe it, and that's obviously not right.

According to the standard of rigorous logical thinking, everything should be asked if it is first, and then why, otherwise it will be a joke.