KYOTO - While millions of people across Japan enjoyed this year's five-day Silver Week holiday, workers at Kyoto's Toei Uzumasa Eigamura film studio theme park and a 24-hour smartphone repair service faced packed schedules, with some working late into the night to keep holidaymakers entertained and respond to emergencies.
The holiday period, which ended on September 23 with the Autumnal Equinox holiday, was the first five-day Silver Week break in 11 years. As families took advantage of the extended vacation to travel and visit attractions, workers in entertainment and emergency repair services experienced some of their busiest days of the year.
At Toei Uzumasa Eigamura in Kyoto, cooler weather brought large numbers of families to the popular film studio theme park, where visitors enjoyed haunted houses, ninja performances and other attractions.
Among those working through the holiday was Tatsuhiko Yamamoto, an actor with 30 years of experience at the theme park who spent his day switching between two very different roles.
Yamamoto began the day as a sword-fighting instructor at an interactive event known as Samurai Training Grounds, teaching approximately 50 visitors the basics of theatrical sword combat. Playing the role of a master swordsman, he demonstrated techniques while entertaining children and their parents with jokes and humorous exchanges.
His performance combined the tension of sword fighting with moments of comedy, keeping the audience engaged throughout the experience.
Rather than finishing work after the daytime performance, Yamamoto quickly changed costumes and reapplied his makeup in preparation for an entirely different character. The elaborate costumes were particularly uncomfortable in the heat, even as temperatures began to ease with the arrival of autumn.
By evening, the friendly sword-fighting instructor had transformed into a stern magistrate responsible for interrogating and torturing criminals in another of the theme park's theatrical attractions.
Despite the intimidating character, Yamamoto continued to incorporate humor into his performance, alternating between threatening dialogue and comic exchanges with participants.
During Silver Week, the theme park attracts more visitors than usual, with some performances continuing late into the evening. For Yamamoto and his colleagues, the extended holiday meant additional performances rather than time off.
After completing his second role, Yamamoto still had more work ahead, including another performance and assisting visitors taking part in the park's interactive torture experience.
Another group of workers unable to take a holiday were those responding to unexpected smartphone problems.
Smartphone Rescue 5 Repair, a company providing 24-hour mobile phone repair services, experienced a surge in requests during Silver Week. According to the company, extended holidays tend to bring an increase in smartphone accidents, particularly when people spend more time outdoors and accidentally drop their devices.
On the third day of the holiday, one of its repair technicians traveled through heavy expressway traffic to Kobe, where a 27-year-old company employee had requested assistance with an iPhone that was becoming increasingly difficult to charge.
The customer also reported that the phone's battery capacity had deteriorated to approximately 68%.
An inspection revealed that accumulated dust and debris inside the charging port were interfering with the connection. After approximately 40 minutes of work, the technician successfully restored the charging function.
The customer said that being without a smartphone had left him with little to do and that the repair had made a significant improvement to his holiday.
The total bill came to 21,200 yen, including a battery replacement and the technician's travel expenses.
With little time to rest, the technician continued traveling between customers while simultaneously answering incoming calls from people experiencing other smartphone problems. Some reported that their devices would no longer charge, while others described screens that remained illuminated but would not respond to touch.
The steady stream of repair requests continued into the evening, and the technician finally returned to the office at around 9:30 p.m.
However, another urgent call soon interrupted what appeared to be a chance to rest.
A woman operating a counseling business in Osaka Prefecture needed immediate assistance after her smartphone ran out of power and refused to restart, even when connected to a charger.
She had arranged to meet a customer at JR Osaka Station the following day but had not yet communicated which exit they should use as their meeting point.
Without access to her smartphone, she was unable to contact the customer or finalize the arrangements. She had already sought help from friends in an unsuccessful attempt to restart the device.
The situation was particularly urgent because the woman relied on her smartphone for work and needed to contact her customer that night.
When requesting the repair, she repeatedly asked whether the technician could arrive within an hour.
The repair itself presented an additional challenge. Unlike an ordinary smartphone, the woman's device was a dual-screen model, a relatively uncommon type among the phones brought in for repair.
Its construction required particularly delicate handling because the display was positioned close to the area that needed to be opened. The technician said opening the device without damaging the screen was especially nerve-racking.
An unsuccessful repair could have prevented the woman from contacting her customer before the end of the day.
After approximately 40 minutes of careful work, the technician succeeded in restoring the phone.
The repaired device was returned to the customer at around 11:30 p.m., allowing her to make the necessary arrangements for the following day's appointment.
The woman expressed relief, saying she had been deeply worried about what she would do if her smartphone could not be repaired.
For workers such as Yamamoto and the emergency repair technician, the five-day Silver Week holiday brought long hours and demanding schedules, supporting the leisure activities and everyday needs of people enjoying their time off.
Source: KTV NEWS
