Nicole in Japan
Random acts
Posted by Nicole (Komono, Japan) on 27 May 2008 in Transportation and Portfolio.
So this photo might not seem like much - and from a photography standpoint it really isn't. But this bus represents one of those sometime few and far between random acts of kindness that one finds in Japan.
It's easy to love Japan from afar and even easier to come to hate Japan after having actual lived here. What seems like a very foreigner friendly country turns out to be surprisingly racist and frustrating at times.
However, for every frustration there is someone who turns your opinion around. This van and it's unseen driver was yet another example. Following directions provided by a friend of Vanessa's a group of us went for a little hike / walk in Nara prefecture. Apart from having to forge a river a few times and climb up some rocks at one point the hike was rather tame, but by the end we were tired all the same. As we head down towards the bus stop - we make a stop off at a cute bridge. And as we are leaving I see a man on a bike giving us rather odd looks. Seeing as he apparently wants to say something I give a polite "Konnichiwa."
He takes the bait and says what he has been apparently wanting to say and asks if we are going to the bus. I say yes, at which point he informs us that the buses stopped running a half an hour ago. I guess considering the bus in my town runs literally two times a day I should have been less surprised - but was nonetheless not expecting the bus to stop running at 5:30.
So here we are - stranded talking to a man on a bike thinking this is going to be less than the perfect ending to our day when out comes about half the neighborhood to see what the commotion is about. We happened to be stopped in front of a hotel, so the hotel manager comes out too. He confirms the verdict on the bus and so we try to ascertain how far it is to the station. Turns out it's about 5 miles or so - and we need to catch a train in order to make it in time to check into our hostel.
We then ask about a Taxi. If you haven't guessed at this point - we are quite in the middle of nowhere and thus our reply to a taxi is more of a snort than a real answer. The idea that we might need TWO taxis to fit us all in even more laughable.
Just when all is seeming a little dim, our hotel manager informs us that for the price of gas he will take us to the station in their company van. Honestly I have no idea by what impulse this middle of nowhere place decided to buy such a nice little van with automatic doors and nice plush seats - but after a brief wait there it is. For about 8 bucks we get to the station and on out way.
Random acts of kindness make all the difference.
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Nicole in Japan
