The kindness of strangers

When school got out on Friday afternoon, I thought I'd stretch my legs, walking the 30 minutes to the station. On the way, some senior high school students greeted me as they walked to our off-campus tennis court, and we got talking about their ambitions to study abroad. We settled on a lunch break meeting next week to continue the conversation.

When I parted with them, I turned into a narrow residential street and pulled out my planner to scribble a note. While I was taking notes, a resident pulled their family car into the road, and at that moment, my eraser hopped out of my bag, bounced on the pavement, and right into a drain! I laughed, bowed at the diver, and went on my way.

Not a minute later, I heard the footfalls of someone jogging behind me. It was the driver! He had pulled up the grate on the drain and retrieved my eraser. I thanked him profusely, bowed deeply, and made a mental note of his house's name plate. Next week, I'll leave him a thank-you note.

My face is clearly not Japanese. Yet this guy went out of his way to return my lost item. On the eve of the national election, with heated rhetoric about foreigners and the noise of anti-foreign sentiment on social media, it is important to cherish positive interactions with our neighbours.