NPO Founder is Friend of Weak and Downtrodden

GEN Hidemori

In Shinjuku's Kabukicho, Japan's number one entertainment district, the lights never go off at the Shinjuku Relief Center, NPO Japan Social Minority Association headquarters. Called "Kakekomidera*," the shelter provides relief and a hiding place for women chased by violent husbands or people who owe money to yakuza (gangsters), and offers immediate aid and consultation to runaways, lost kids and others at the bottom of society's heap.

GEN Hidemori runs the center and discusses in his Kansai dialect some aspects of Japanese contemporary society. "Those coming here for help are scared and suffer spiritually," he says. "Recently, domestic violence has been increasing. Mostly it occurs in middle class families. Children become so violent, punching and kicking their parents, but no one can stop them. Because it is considered a domestic matter, the police can do nothing unless parents report it. Knowing this situation, the children remain out of control. I say these are children, but they are already adults in their 20's and 30's. They are parasites, just laying around at home playing games. Their parents, mindful of the community's shame, cannot do anything about it."

Hidemori advises his clients to be courageous and face up to their problems. "I help only once. It's up to them whether they do it or not. My job is to lead them to make a decision." When Hidemori deems it necessary, he hides victims and confronts the perpetrators. From violent husbands to yakuza, Hidemori doesn't flinch from their pressure. "They are basically weak people. That's why they target other weaker people. I have no one to be afraid of since I meet them at the risk of my own life. They wonder why I would risk my own life to help thirdparties I have no relation to."

During childhood, passed around between four fathers and four mothers
Behind his founding of the relief center, Hidemori has an extraordinary and eventful past. He was born of a stowaway Korean father and a Japanese mother. In other words, he is a Korean living in Japan. He was raised in complicated surroundings: his father had four women and his mother also had four men. "I was passed around among my four fathers and four mothers like a piece of luggage. Wherever I went I was treated as if I were a nuisance. I always flattered them, otherwise I couldn't have meals. I couldn't think of tomorrow. Everyday I had to think of how I was going to live each day," Hidemori says. Every time he moved he had to change schools and was bullied by students. But through this experience he found out how to win the fights. He planted fear in his opponents by crushing them completely.

Hidemori grew up in the Kansai area and after he reached adulthood he took up various jobs. Then he became successful in the construction business and gradually expanded his business. He admits that his business was something dirty and he made money by cheating people. So he had conflicts with yakuza constantly, but as he was trained in fighting since childhood, he was never defeated. He made a lot of money and became a member of the Rotary Club, a gathering for successful businessmen. However, from his childhood experiences, Hidemori trusted nobody. Making money was everything. He had been looked upon by people suspiciously and not few people had a grudge against him. Some of them were even trying to kill him.

Hidemori married and had three children, but he says he never took care of his family, who live and remain in Kobe. He went out drinking almost every day and lived a carefree life. During this period out of a strong curiosity, Hidemori met SAKAI Dai-ajari (a so-called "living Buddha") and became a lay priest. He often went to the temple for training, but after he left he often went on to collect outstanding money. Hidemori went on pilgrimages for training, but ultimately all he gained from it was odd bits of mercy. His was the face of a flimsy hypocrite.

A life-changing disease
When a letter arrived from the Japan Red Cross hospital, Hidemori's life changed significantly. It was the result of a blood test from blood he had donated without a thought in 2000. The letter said, "It has been confirmed that you have tested positive on an HIV antibody test." He dropped the letter. "I am a carrier of the Aids virus!” He had many reasons to be the carrier, he admits. Shocked, Hidemori and his future appeared totally bleak. He was in his middle 40's and supposed to live for another 50 years.

He decided to die accomplishing what he should have done, as he was fated to die anyway. He thought neither about his family nor his company. It was time for revenge. He had five persons he could not forgive and he planned to kill each one of them. He knew he would be arrested by the police and executed if he did but it did not concern him: He might die tomorrow anyway.

A few days later, without thinking, he read again the letter from the Japan Red Cross hospital. When he looked it carefully he noticed it said not "HIV," but "HTLV-1." He searched the Internet and found out that it was a rare virus which carries the possibility of acute leukemia developing. The disease appears in one out of 1,000 HTLV-1 carriers and most die within one year. In most cases the infection route comes from mothers during the lactation period. The virus appears approximately 40 years later after an incubation period and the second infection typically goes unrecognized. Hidemori was relieved, but his fear did not dissipate. A cure or treatment has not been found yet.

By now Hidemori has been through veritable hell many times, but it was the first time he was conscious of death. He cursed his mother, who had been nothing like a mother, but left him this virus. After that, Hidemori reviewed his past. He had become attached to money and worked hard for it. He realized he gained nothing from it and felt miserable, thinking of revenge rather than his family when he faced to death.

Because of me I can show you how to escape
He realized that all human beings someday die and his life changed greatly. The company management that he had run risking his life suddenly paled in significance. After struggling to find a solution, he set up a relief center in Kabukicho to protect the abused in May, 2002. Leaving his companies to somebody else, he offered 24-hour aid, 365 days a year. "I know all the tricks of the wicked guys. So I can advise clients how to escape. As I have dealt with trouble, I can offer them concrete advice," Hidemori thought.

However, people who knew him took it as "Hidemori is planning something bad again" and he had a difficult time getting the funding to set it up. Every month money is required for the office rent and staff salaries. The companies that he left to someone else have already gone bankrupt. As the principal guarantor, Hidemori was left with a debt of 180,000,000 yen. In addition, every month expenses for the relief center pile up, and he continues to refinance.

Despite this, phone calls and consultation requests for help to the Center marked 2,469 cases in the first half of this year. With the help of volunteer workers, he rescued many people. The relief activities appeared to be expanding smoothly. However, due to money shortages, the sympathetic staff people who had gathered to volunteer there had to leave one after another. Finally, Hidemori was the only one left and he went into personal bankruptcy. Nevertheless, he never gave up. He survived working part time at a Japanese restaurant at night while offering consultation to victims using his cell phone.

Recently Hidemori got some good news. He had left his family for a long time, but his children read his book "Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomidera" (published by the Kadokawa Haruki Corporation) and came to Tokyo to see him. In the book, human karma, including Hidemori's own unfairness and selfishness from his childhood to present, is described faithfully. It is impossible for anyone to not sympathize with his direct honesty. Knowing the past of their father, the grown-up children began to understand Hidemori more and more.

Many people come to the Center for help even today. In three years, the number of those consulted has climbed to about 6,000. The volunteer staff is coming back and the office has become more active. "This is my vocation. I believe I was born to do this job," says Hidemori. "All my previous past experience was necessary for it. I am very thankful for the past." His philosophy is not money making, but 'human making.' Like that of the Budda, Hidemori's face is now filled with mercy.

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