Musings on travel and culture in Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana) and Asia (India, Dubai, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Japan).
March 20, 2014
The kindness of strangers
While eating my sushi breakfast, I chatted with two men seated next to me. They wanted to know if I had any suggestions for exploring Tokyo, turns out they were only there a few days as well. I gave them a few suggestions and told them I was down to my last hour, as I would be heading straight to my hotel to grab the shuttle to the airport. When my bill came, I was told it was cash only. The bill was 4000 yen, and I had 1000 yen and $2. The waiter told me the nearest ATM was 10-15 minutes away. I had 15 minutes to be at my hotel. A wave of panic hit me. One of the men asked, "How short are you?" "Quite a bit" I replied. The man took out a 5000 yen note (around $50), handed it to me along with his business card and said, "Here. You can mail me money from NY." I was shocked. I told him I had never had a random stranger do something so nice for me before. Between the friendly man at the fish market and this generous man, I felt incredibly fortunate! It was certainly a lesson in generosity!
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