Ep. 8 Everyone Is the Section Chief
The End
Ep. 8 “Everyone Is the Section Chief”
Read the English script
Ep. 8 “Everyone Is the Section Chief” — English script
Page 1
On the job!! What are you!! MAKING!!
Late October. Nashigasaka City Hall, the basement.
My Halloween costume. "Walking Wad of Cash."
Lucky, right?
They say Shibuya banned street drinking at night, all year round.
Note: Shibuya Ward made its nighttime ban on street drinking around the station a year-round rule.
Then where am I supposed to party this year!?
... Yes, Special Trends Unit.
Page 2
The shopping street wants a Halloween that draws young people.
Basement's job.
October 31st, Saturday night. I'm counting on you, Gotokuji.
I'm not here. I'm a wad of cash...
... Understood, sir.
Genda. You have a visitor.
How'd you know it was me!?
Page 3
I'm Daikoku, from the shopping street.
I run the hardware store halfway up the hill.
With Shibuya off-limits, some young folks must have nowhere to go.
Couldn't we bring 'em to our hill?
Smells like unpaid work.
... That hill was packed once, you know.
... No way to say no to this one.
Page 4
Fourteen empty shops. Night foot traffic's down two-thirds in ten years.
Nashigasaka City: the Nashizaka-dori shopping street.
The bus climbs the hill to the housing estate up top.
At night, one an hour.
This hill... so long... wanna go home...
We're only halfway!!
Page 5
The Sakaue Lantern Parade
Lanterns all the way from the bottom of the hill to the top.
An autumn thirty years ago.
After that, nobody was left to run it.
My wife kept saying we should do it again, till the very end.
With a crowd like that, food stalls would've made a killing...
NOT the point!!
Page 6
If we hire an event company—
Late October, they're all booked. Around Shibuya.
A subsidy—
The deadline was spring.
Then social media—
The street's account has twelve followers.
We'll never make it in time!!
Page 7
I'll give you half the stall fees as thanks.
............ Half?
20,000 a plot, thirty plots, 600,000—
Half is 300,000!!
And my cut?
Thanks!? You're a civil servant!!
Page 8
To pull a crowd, we need a main attraction...
A costume contest!! Theme: "City Hall Section Chief"!!
I'll make cardboard APPROVED stamps. 50 yen each.
Young visitor numbers... numbers I can show the main building...!!
...?
Page 9
A parade: Road Traffic Act, Article 77...
Note: In Japan, a parade on a public road needs a road use permit from the local police chief (Road Traffic Act, Art. 77).
A road use permit from the police chief...
—That night.
Stalls: Road Act, Art. 32... a city occupancy permit...
Note: Stalls on a road need a separate road occupancy permit from the road's manager, here the city (Road Act, Art. 32).
I need TWO!?
Headcount, area, hours... it comes with conditions...!!
Page 10
Road use permits— I've got 'em totally figured out!!
... He did it properly. Tetsu, of all people.
Get the permit, and then anyone can come!!
... Really?
... Eh, whatever. Numbers, numbers!!
Page 11
Got the theme sample. 15 seconds.
The Chief's glasses flashing — that's perfect!
... 37 views.
Nobody can copy it if the glasses don't flash.
If they don't flash— then MAKE 'em flash!!
Page 12
100-yen glasses, LED tape... a button battery...
Three days and three nights from then.
IT LIT UPPP!!
First thing in the morning — what IS that!?
Put 'em on and you're the Chief!! "Gotoku Glasses"!!
I'll post it on Instagram.
Page 13
... It passed 100,000 views.
A-a hundred thousand!?
Just put them on. Instant Section Chief.
Page 14
All over Japan, Section Chiefs began to multiply.
Section Chief on my lunch break
"This Halloween, I'm becoming a Section Chief on the Nashigasaka hill."
Page 15
Stocked three thousand pairs!!
On the day, 1,000 yen a pop at the stall!!
Stamps: 300 pre-orders.
All-nighter. Till 10 p.m.
Note: Under Japan's Labor Standards Act, workers under 18 generally can't work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Visitor numbers... this could work...!!
The hill looks like a wad of cash...!!
It's quiet today.
Page 16
... Found it.
My wife's handwriting.
... To think we'll light up the hill again...
Stall sign-ups went up to eighty plots, too.
I'm tearing up... eighty plots is 800,000...!!
Cry OR count — pick one!!
Page 17
And then came that fateful Saturday.
Area? The whole hill's the shopping street!!
Line 'em up, line 'em up!!
Mr. Genda, out onto the road too... is that all right?
300... 400... 500!!
Page 18
No costume needed!! Put 'em on and you're the Chief!!
Section Chief in one second!!
A thousand, a thousand, another thousand!!
All three thousand are already...
Page 19
9 p.m.? Who cares — we're going overtime!!
9 p.m.
It's 10 p.m., so I'm going home.
It's the law.
9:58 p.m.
How many people are even here!?
Page 20
10 p.m. They keep coming.
We came from Shibuya!!
Nashigasaka's full of Section Chiefs right now!!
Sold out and they STILL come!?
Page 21
Estimated: three thousand.
... I can't move.
Th-three thousand...?
Isn't this... bad?
Page 22
The permit said 100 people, sidewalks only, until 9 p.m.!
And the stalls on the road don't even have an occupancy permit!!
Breaking the conditions gets the same penalty as no permit!!
Who said it didn't matter how many showed up!?
Where's the man in charge — the City Hall Section Chief!?
Page 23
... Yes. Nashigasaka Police?
It was my failure of supervision. I deeply apologize.
Mr. Genda.
Move all three thousand to the sidewalks and the park. One by one, politely.
Th-three thousand... one by one...
Page 24
Not the Chief line!! To the park!!
We're moving the venue to Sakaue Park.
Please walk up on the sidewalks only.
Full refunds on stall fees!!
My 300K...
Let's light my wife's lanterns.
Are you watching, dear? The hill's all lit up.
Page 25
... Empty.
Section Chief category, third place—
—Huh?
How do I guide 'em now!?
... I can't see the road.
Whoa, blackout!?
... The glasses are still lit.
It's like... a path.
Page 26
... Still glowing, the little things.
... With this, who needs guide lights?
... A runway?
Dear, we got something brighter than lanterns.
... These are all impressions of me, though.
This year I'm on crowd control from the start...
The next year.
This is a work of fiction. Nashigasaka City is invented, and nothing here reflects the real operation of any person, organization or public office. It is not an official publication of any government body.
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