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samurai007 (Offline)
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Posts: 890
Join Date: Oct 2007
12-05-2007, 03:51 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM View Post
He's Australian, actually.
Ahhh, then we could bring up the treatment of Aborigines for instructional purposes...


I've been to Hiroshima as part of my trip through western Japan. I arrived in the city fairly late, so the museum was already closing. I walked around the peace park instead, and saw the burned out husk of one remaining building that was standing. It was dark by the time I left the park, and I was having a hard time finding the Hiroshima Peace Hostel where I was to stay that night. One of the 1st people I asked for directions was incredibly kind and helpful... he drove me around, asking other people where it was for me because I didn't speak much Japanese, and he had heard of the place but wasn't sure where it was. It took 45 minutes of driving around, asking and searching before we found the place! Turns out the guy was a member of the Hiroshima orchestra, on his way to practice when I happened to stop him for directions. I apologized profusely for causing him to miss his practice, but he said Hiroshima is an international city that gets many foreign visitors, and he said he felt it was the responsibility of the local people to help out the visitors as much as possible. I never faced any animosity for being American (and I never lied or hid the fact I was American, I'm proud of that fact).

He was just one of the many incredibly kind and helpful people I met in Japan, and I have a dozen more stories like that.


JET Program, 1996-98, Wakayama-ken, Hashimoto-shi

Link to pictures from my time in Japan
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