explain the followingWho is to say that the Box Man does not feel as Thoreau did in his doorway, not “crowded or confined in the least,” with...

My take on this passage is that the author is questioning
the common assumption that if a person is homeless, something beyond that person's
control has forced the condition of homelessness upon them. The author seems to be
suggesting that perhaps living in a box is a conscious choice, and perhaps even a heroic
choice. Why?

Well, Thoreau simplified his external life to
the bare minimum in order to enrich and deepen his inner life. Unencumbered by the
possessions and material attachments with which most people load themselves up, Thoreau,
and by extension the Box Man, have the contemplative capacity to allow their
imaginations, their spirits, free rein in this inner
"pasture."

So to the busy passers-by on the Tokyo streets,
the Box Man is a tragic figure. This author suggests, however, that perhaps the inner
world of the Box Man is rich and vibrant, filled with a freedom that most of us will
never know.

In simpler terms, the author seems to say,
don't judge a book by its cover, or a man by his Box.