Help Along the Way

Before leaving for Japan I was told by some that the people might be shy and not attempt to talk to us or help us, especially the older Japanese. My own son, who lives there now, told me that they would not offer to help us. His take on it was that they did not like gaijin, or foreigners. We got a few stares here and there, but of course with a husband who is 6ft. 7in. tall, who wouldn't stare? He gets the same kind of looks stateside and hears comments about how tall he is. Occasionally someone would get up and move away from us on the subway as another seat became available.

We found though, that for the most part the people were very helpful AND the ones that were most friendly and helpful were the older ones. Even so a few young people also greeted us. I don't have the space to share every story here, but I will share a couple of significant ones.

We were on the train to Kamakura. We checked and double checked the route. Suddenly at one of the stops the conductor was standing in front of us asking a question in Japanese. My answer was Kamakura, even though I didn't really understand the question. In broken English, he says, "You have to get off." We are just looking at him and each other very confused with the question, "What?" just under our breath. He says again, "Get off, go to other platform, (to which he pointed) get on that train, (holds up two fingers) two stops". Apparently we needed to change trains. That had not shown up anywhere we checked the schedule.

Another day, in the town, Inyuama, we had asked for help to find the museum. The man at the information center told us which bus to take and how much it would cost. We headed out of the station to locate Bus No. 2. We are nearly to the bottom of a long flight of stairs when we hear footsteps running behind us. We turn to see the same man running after us. He had incorrectly told us to pay when getting on the bus and wanted to correct his error. We were to pay as we got off.

There are so many examples of this kind of hospitality, but I will only share one more now. Our trip was coming to a close. We were in the Nagoya train station. We'd purchased our tickets for the semi-express train to the airport, checking twice to see if we were headed to the correct platform. We were a little early and several trains came and went. Then a man from across the tracks calls out to us, asking if we are going to the airport. I confirm. He says, "You need to be over here for the express." We were so confused!!! Dan ran off to ask one more time. He was told for the third time that we were fine where we were waiting. We had 6 minutes until our train came. We still debated what to do. I looked and my husband and said, "Too many things have happened where we have been helped along our way. I want to believe that man across the tracks." Dan agreed, but now what do we do? Our time is short and we would have to go up a flight of stairs, figure out how to get to the correct platform and make our way down another set of stairs. Suddenly I come up with a crazy idea and ask Dan if he wants to go through the next train. The next train comes, both sides open, everyone disembarks and we rush through, hoping not to get slammed by the closing doors. Bear in mind we are each toting 2 suitcases and our carry-ons.

The man on the other side comes quickly and grabs one of my bags. He says, "We will go together." We chatted with him as we waited the last couple of minutes there. We laughed about going through the train, which he just shook his head and said, "Very dangerous!" Our train comes and the doors only open on one side this time.......the side we were on.

We were very thankful to all those who were willing to help these gaijin. They welcomed us to their country. We are also grateful to God, for putting these people on our path to help us along our journey. It is an incredible picture of what God does for us all along life's journey, isn't it?