Acts of Kindness

Yesterday I got back from Miyajima around 10 pm. This meant that some of the trains were no longer running. I had to figure out a route to get back to my hostel that was different from what I had initially planned. I took a look at the subway map and realized rather than taking one train I could do it by taking 2 trains with a transfer. I figured that was easy enough.

I got onto the number 8 train and then shifted over to the number 3 train. After a few stops I realized that I was on the 3 train that was going in the opposite direction of my hostel. At this point it was about 11 pm. I got off at the next stop. As I became aware of the problem I stood up and moved around the train quite a bit. I was looking for maps. It must have been apparent that I was lost because when I got off the train a Japanese woman got off with me and said "are you okay? Are you lost?" I smiled and told her "I'm fine I just have been going in the wrong direction. I just need to take the 3 train going the other way." She said "are you sure?" I said "Yes I'm fine". She went on her way and I went over to check the schedule. It said that a train should show up in the next 15 minutes. A train didn't show up… I then took a look at the schedule again. Next to the time that it was supposed to be there was a blue mark that was written in kanji (japanese characters). I later learned this meant that the 3 train only went one direction at this time (not the direction I was going).

The next train that came I asked the person if the 3 train was supposed to come. He spoke a small amount of english. He said "3 train" then crossed his arms. In Japan crossing ones arms means no. It's like when we shake our head. I said "chuden mae". That was my stop that I needed to get to. He said "come". So I got on. I then went to the back and asked the conductor in the back "does the 3 train hit any of these stops?" He said "no". I then walked away and went to look at the map. As I was looking at the map he came over to me and said "where are you trying to go?" I was relieved because I could tell his english was good. I told him and he said "Oh. Okay, you need to get off here and get on train 0". He then explained to me exactly where we were and the number of stops until I got off. He then also explained to me the number of stops it would take until I reached my Chuden Mae. Then when it came time for my stop he got out of the train and walked me over to the other train. All of this was done out of pure kindness. In case there are some doubters I do want to explain that concept of tipping does not exist here (so he wasn't doing it for that).

Then today when I got into Fukuoka city I was walking and this old man saw me looking at a map. He said "you going hostel?" I said "yeah". He smiled and said "by my house. I walk with you." We talked while we walked. He is a chemist. He walked me right to the corner where my hostel was.

Then when I got to my hostel I asked the person at the counter "Do you know of any Aikido dojos in the area?" He said that he didn't but his friend did Aikido. He then pulled out his friend and called him. He handed me the phone and I spoke with him. His name was Shun. Shun told me that he would come to the hostel tomorrow around 10 and he would take me to his dojo.

These are all examples of some of the kind deeds that have happened to me along the way of this trip. I have just been shocked by some of the kindness I have received from the Japanese people. The thing that continues to impress me is how much people have gone out of their way to help me.