I clicked the headline expecting a chuckle and left with an unexpectedly warmed heart.

> “We wanted to strengthen the connection between the children and the older generations in the community. There are so many amazing people here. I thought it was such a shame that no one knew about them,” [...] “Since the card game went viral, so many kids are starting to look up to these men as heroic figures.” > Kids have started attending local events and volunteering for community activities — just for a chance to meet the ojisan from their cards. Participation in town events has reportedly doubled since the game launched.

there's so much more I want to comment on--it's not screen-based, increased cross-generational interaction, strengthening community, elders having their stories known--but what I love is that these effects will compound into even greater benefits for the community.

Reminds me of the fisherman call where you could sign up to have a professional fisherman give you a wake up call. https://soranews24.com/2017/05/12/japanese-fishermen-start-m...

I love this! I did not expect to love this.

Wow.

The cards are exemplary. Any Ojisan[0] featured on a card should feel honored. I looked at the cards shown to us and immediately was struck by the artists ability to both see the beauty in these fine people and deliver it on the card in a compelling, clearly respectful way.

And the motive! It is simple and noble: Elevating Town Fathers in the eyes of those for whom they often serve.

The idea is pure,[1] uncluttered by unnecessary detail and expectations. The only real complication came from the kids, who naturally wanted the game aspect to make the whole thing fun!

Of course they did.

Humans being beautiful. That is what this is and as much as I want this sort of thing where I live, I know it would not be this organic thing of beauty and that makes me sad. I am not sure enough of us here have what is needed.

I am definitely sharing today. What a delightful story!

[0] Capitalized because local heroes

[1] Pure is the word I use in this context. There may be better ones. Please share.

I remember as a young kid living in Norway, there'd be the "russefeiring"[0] around May where students finishing their final semester will don a brightly colored overall and cause mayhem in the town. I remember getting shot a lot with water guns. Anyway, one thing that is pretty fun about that tradition is that the students print cards for themselves with a picture and fun facts etc and hand them out to all the little kids, and we'd trade them between ourselves to have the whole collection of students.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russefeiring

I still remember decades and decades ago hearing about vending machines in Japan. Someone mentioned going to Japan and how you could get cold cans of coffee out of vending machines there. This was sometime in the 1990s, before even Starbucks was a huge thing. Everyone I knew thought the idea of cold coffee was ridiculous, a quirk of the Japanese that would never catch on.

I feel the Japanese have been pretty good at exporting culture, but it has a lot of misses among the few hits. I wonder if this is something that would catch on outside of Japan.