At a busy crossing in front of Tokyo Station, Bruno Contigiani, president of L'Arte del Vivere con Lentezza (The Art of Slow Living), an organization he founded in his native Italy, approached office workers one after another urging "Yuru yuru, shiawase" ("Go slowly, be happy").
It was around 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 9 — the third annual Global Day of Slow Living.
Perhaps sensing that his quiet entreaties were failing to transform Tokyo's tense workforce into a hang-loose mass of meandering humanity, Contigiani stepped up the slow-down pressure. This involved him donning a faux Italian policeman's hat and handing out mock speeding tickets to pedestrians who walked "too fast." But this hard cop had his soft side, too, as he showed when he smilingly gave out flyers on living the slow and happy way.