Free Hugging!

Wow! I think Hugs are addictive... :p I have been watching at videos of Free Hugs Campaign all around the world (from Argentina to Japan, from China to Turkey, but there is no Colombia...), and feel like going out-there and hug someone!!! :p

So, yesterday I did my first Free Hugging in Shinjuku! It was so great, see the people's smile when they got a hug, people running after us, joining us to give free hugs... even in Japan, there was more people than I thought getting hugs from us, and more than half of them were not foreigners but Japanese!

We started doing it in Shinjuku Park with two friends, and then we went out to the streets of Shinjuku (Tokyo), were there was lots of people but most of them just ignored us, or looked us like "what is that???", or just took pictures of us... I mean, in Japan people almost never hug eachother (maybe only with their boy/girlfriends and not in public places...), the people is so closed-up to themselves, and pretty much everyone is considered a stranger, so yeah, its difficult to do it here, but there is always people that need a hug, and are really happy to get one!

but there is something I thought while doing it... if you really want to change such a closed society as the Japanese one, make people notice that all those other strangers are people just like them, and make someone happy, what better way than by giving free hugs to strangers?

Something really funny about doing it in Japan is the fact that there is no good translation for "FREE HUGS"... first of all there is no word for "HUGS", well, there is "抱擁" which is to formal, and there is "抱きしめる" which is used mostly by couples... so the only way to say it is "ハグ" or in english... so we have to be very creative to make people understand... the ones we used were...
"FREE HUGS"
"気ままにハグ"
"今日はハグの日" (this means "today it is Hug's day" and then to those who asked us wether it was really the Hug's day, we answered "everyday is Hug's day" :p)
and an explanation of what "FREE HUGS" means...

Once again, Thanks Juan Mann for inspiring so many people to go out there, make someone happy, and change the world one hug at a time! :p

pd: the video doesnt have so many "hugs moments" because well, I was giving hugs so I couldn't take video... but I will put more pics when my friend sends them to me.

and dont forget... Hug a stranger!