Mariko Sakaida, 33, is a supermarket cashier in Tokyo and the 2003 Best Checker Concours champion, a title she competed for with about 2,000 of the Kanto region's other checkout aces. She won hands-down with polished greetings, flawless scanning, speedy and accurate cashing, and artful packing. She also puts on a winning performance after work with Koto Ward's Fukagawa Tokkuriza Theater, whose six members adapt the most hilarious rakugo (comic storytelling) tales to the stage.
Any activity can turn into a "do": the way to master the philosophy of something, such as "the way of the sword" in kendo, "the way of the tea" in sado, and "horsemanship" in kishido, which is very much like Bushido, "the way of the samurai." I practice "cashier-do," "the way of the cash register," and I love every minute of it.
Japanese turn manual labor into an art form and seek perfection in the details. I think the essence of Japanese tradition is that we want to be really good at everything, and we enjoy the process of getting better at something, regardless of what it is. I love being a cashier because I think of it as a chance to gain a deeper understanding of myself and life in general.