A woman on the crew put into words what the job had become.
"The passengers are the stars, and we are the supporting cast," she said. "On the stage called Shinkansen Theater, let's create wonderful scenes together with our passengers."
The bow on the platform, the thank-you at the door, the seven minutes of work: all of it was now part of a performance.
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And the passengers noticed. People who once assumed a cleaner could not answer their questions began stopping to chat.
"When passengers respond," one manager said, "we feel that the job is worth doing."