I work as a security guard in Japan. The annual Kobe Lantern Festival attracts a large number of citizens and tourists from surrounding cities. Lantern Festival lasts about 10 days. In order to ensure its safety and smooth progress, security has become an important work of the Lantern Festival, and it is also a major problem that plagues Kobe City Hall. Such a large-scale light show needs a large number of security personnel, and it is obviously not enough to rely solely on the limited police force of Kobe City Police Department. Therefore, during the Lantern Festival or other major events every year, the security department of Kobe City will recruit a large number of security personnel from the society. However, this is not an easy task for Japan, which is plagued by the problem of "declining birthrate" and is increasingly short of labor.

The Kobe Lantern Festival in 2007 is the second Lantern Festival I have experienced since I came to Japan. As usual, I work while going to school. However, the Lantern Festival has also become a topic of discussion. The night before the Lantern Festival, I received a phone call from a friend, saying that the main part of the Lantern Festival was looking for security personnel, with an hourly salary of 1 1,200 yen, and asked me if I would like to go to Kobe. The salary of 1 1,200 yen is rare, especially for foreigners, and it is still very attractive. But to my surprise, in Japan, such a special industry is actually open to foreigners (although there is no special prohibition, it is obviously an oversight and an abnormal phenomenon for them to accept foreign students to engage in such work). This shows the degree of labor shortage in Japan. Although the time conflicts with my original working hours, I still took a day off to experience it.

That afternoon, we met at the appointed place half an hour earlier. With me are three international students from China, including a girl. Like the Japanese, we put on their uniforms, which are similar to those of China security guards. So on the surface, no one will doubt that we are foreigners. All the guards gathered in front of a square before starting work. There are about 200 people in all. Divided into two sides, one is the "regular army" Japanese police, and the other is the "miscellaneous army" we recruited from the society. All the guards stepped into the stadium in order. We four international students from China stood in the corner of the meeting. After the rally, a policeman with the appearance of a leader stepped onto the rostrum, saluted the leaders in turn with the leaders of the queues in the background and made a brief report. Although I didn't quite understand what they reported at that time, I was from a military background. This scene not only reminded me of the life of the army, but also made me feel a burst of emotion in my heart. I didn't expect two years as a soldier to come in handy in Japan. However, something that embarrassed me later happened.

The duty place of the four of us was arranged near the most prosperous Mimiya Station in Kobe. People come here to play and the traffic is busy. Many foreign tourists will pass by here, so it is our "duty" to show others the way. However, I have just come to Japan for a year, and my Japanese level is still relatively limited. So I have foreseen the "embarrassing situation" that will happen. I've been thinking, what if someone asks me the way, but I don't understand or understand it, but I don't know how to answer (even if I can talk, people will see that you are a foreigner)? How should I face such a situation? It doesn't matter to me that an international student from China works as a security guard in Japan. But for the Japanese, what will they think if we foreigners guarantee their safety? Such psychological contradictions have been accompanied by the whole duty process. All my fears have been satisfied. I think it's a very interesting experience if it's just from work. But in nature, there are many embarrassing and even sad things.