A perfect day
Published 8:37 pm Thursday, October 22, 2026
The 2023 Wim Wenders’ film “Perfect Days” offers a unique chance to remember that days can be perfect. The main character, Hirayama, is a Tokyo janitor who is a deeply introspective, quiet, and mindful person. Very little disrupts his mild manner, and he witnesses and interacts with each series of moments in his life with a perfect embrace of the now. Even as a janitor, he embraces each task with a masterful sense of grace, expertise, and appreciation for doing something well, no matter how seemingly mundane the task.
During our short visit with Hirayama, we experience the mundane shift into something profound. The care he exacts for his garden. The attention for his carefully curated music, picture, and book collection. The organization of his cleaning supplies. The respect he offers to each person, no matter their station. The pleasure of drinking water after a hard day at work. The abstract dreams offer a glimpse of his past. The sweep of a nearby broom awakens him each morning. Of course, Hirayama experiences more than the normal daily grind.
Hirayama’s mindful practice helps prepare him fully for even more exquisite encounters. The chance to aid a coworker seeking out love. The compassionate willingness to help a lost child find his mother. The immediate restorative love he offers to his niece, whom he has not seen for years, when she unexpectedly shows up at his front door. The duty to protect a companion he has come to love during the many encounters at her restaurant. Each of these encounters are organic, and when they arise, Hirayama’s preparation for the seemingly mundane prepares him for these greater needs.
His well-honed observational skills and ability to overcome obstacles are utilized to the fullest and with precise attention to the present moment. Throughout Hirayama’s journey, he takes every possible opportunity to focus on the now. He takes so-called empty moments, that we all encounter, to enjoy the now. Sunlight dappling against a restroom’s exterior wall. The taste of a sandwich under the canopy of trees at a shrine. The smile of his niece while she emulates Hirayama’s passion for capturing moments in time with a camera.
As Hirayama’s lovely, yet brief path with his niece approaches its conclusion, they stop to admire a nearby river during a leisurely bicycle ride. After she realizes the river flows to the ocean, his niece asks to visit the ocean. He simply replies, “Next time.” When she asks when that will be, he offers a careful pause before replying, “Next time is next time. Now is now.” And she glances back with understanding of the simplicity of enjoying now. Her own enlightenment beckons.
And the underlying importance of their perfect day, as part of his series of perfect days, is revealed. Hirayama helps her, as well as the audience, understand that all we have is now. Next time really is a complete uncertainty, and we should relish this moment. So how can we take Hirayama’s message for our daily lives?
The first step is simply remembering the idea of “now is now.” Our lives will always be busy, and Hirayama’s insight offers a forceful reminder to slow down. We seek wealth and status, yet they fall largely within the fleeting nature of “next time.” In our effort for future wealth, status, and attention, we fall short of living our lives now. We constantly ask, “When will that be?” and the universe offers constant reminders. “Now is now,” our friends, family, and health reply as they seek out the best for us.
We can live perfect days. Most of our days are truly perfect. Our days are a series of defining moments, many of which flit by with little to no notice, as we are seeking out what’s next. Instead, our perfection can stem from constant meditation.
Next time is next time. Now is now.
Now, will you join me on our perfect day?
Dan Brigman is a Warrensburg resident.
