Getting money or a residence visa are two of the biggest motives for joining the French Foreign Legion.
But two Japanese who joined about a year ago — Takeo Oshiro, 22, and Shingo Haebaru, 24 — had different reasons for joining the private army.
"I did not want to live among dead-looking people in Japan," said Oshiro, who was a job-hopping part-time worker in Japan. He is now stationed in Djibouti.