Seiji Date, 60, is a part-time clothing salesman and a part-time cleaner. He has 38 years of experience in the fashion business, but six months ago, the economic slump forced his employer to retire him at the company's mandatory retirement age of 60. Having spent 27 years with the same retailer, where he had slowly worked his way up to the number three position of director, he suddenly found himself unemployed this March. Unable to receive a full pension before the age of 65, Date became a regular at job-placement agencies. And in the last few months, besides being a cleaner and salesman, he has also been a driver's assistant, a flyer deliveryman and a rental-car washer. Shy and calm in nature, Date blows off steam by fighting fires as a volunteer fireman.

Luckily, positive forces are stronger than the negative. Marriage is so important! Our lives change when we have partners. I was selfish and didn't care about anyone before I met my wife, but she's such a nice person that she slowly turned me into a better man.

Silence is a sign of appreciation. Japanese husbands never say, "I love you." Instead we ask our wives to go for a health check. That's a sign of our love. Or we bring home some dessert. That's why one of the most surprising things for Japanese people to witness was North Korean abductee Hitomi Soga and her American husband, Charles Jenkins, hugging and kissing each other at Jakarta airport when they were reunited in 2004. Wow, I thought, couples do that? Even at their age? She was 45 and he was 64, and they still kissed and hugged in front of the whole world!