Photo/Illutration An Asahi Shimbun delivery man in Yokohama in December 2020 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Takashi Tajiri, a 58-year-old resident of Chiba, was delivering morning newspapers as usual when an elderly man came out of a house and called to him.

The man said his mother had fallen out of bed, but he could not pick her up by himself and needed help.

It was a classic case of an elderly care emergency, in which the caregiver is also a senior.

After getting the old woman back in bed, Tajiri became curious about why the man happened to call to him for help. He asked, “How did you know I was here?”

The man replied with a smile, “I hear your motorbike at 2:30 a.m. every day.”

Recalling that episode in an essay, Tajiri observed that newspapers connect society and readers, and he, a delivery man, was also connected to society through his bike’s exhaust sounds.

His essay was one of 3,223 pieces submitted to the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association this year for its 30th “Shimbun Haitatsu Essei Kontesuto” (literally, the “Newspaper delivery essay contest”).

Every prize-winning entry brought out the warmth of human interactions.

Akita resident Saori Yasuda, 41, recalled her pre-adolescent days with her late father, who delivered newspapers while working another job. After returning home from his delivery route in the snow, he would take a nap.

Young Yasuda wanted to help him however she could, so before he came home, she made a habit of crawling into his stone-cold bed to warm it up for him.

He would tell her upon waking from his nap, “The bed was so nice and warm, I slept really well.” She will never forget those words, she wrote.

Children wrote essays, too, and they were filled with heart-warming episodes.

Nina Nomi, a 9-year-old from Kita-Kyushu, felt the coldness of the newspaper in her hand one chilly December morning when she decided to spend her allowance to buy a handwarmer for the paper delivery person whom she’d never met.

“I was Santa for just one day,” she wrote.

Oct. 10 is a press holiday in Japan, a tradition that is observed once a month around the nation for newspaper companies.

There are those who deliver newspapers, their families who support them and the newspaper readers. I have a renewed sense of gratitude that newspapers are still being read today.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 9

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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