Bus stop: A gaijin's tale

[Hachiko]

It was a typical day and I was making my usual commute home.
Searching my pockets for change to pay the driver, I realized I was 30 yen short of the fare with only a couple of 10,000 yen notes left in my wallet. As the bus came to a halt at my stop, I quietly explained to the driver that I had only 340 yen in change and a couple of bills too large to change in the machine.

Japan Times

 

[topi]

Wow.
If I did that in England, the driver would tell me to get off and id get abused by the other passengers.

 

[Lina Inverse]

Truly amazing!
Guess something like that would be impossible over here as well.

 

[Oliver]

The Japanese have never failed to amaze me when it comes to sheer helpfulness. It is most obvious if you live in a third-world country like England, where the word "service" conjures up thoughts of unfeasible fantasies ... rather than the stark reality that it should.

I chanced upon the Japan Centre in London (Piccadilly Circus), on my shopping travels for a few Japanese language textbooks. Dismayed to see that only volume one was available (I was after all three), I asked one of the Japanese attendants if they had any of the latter two volumes in stock. Expecting to be told the typical British refrain of "Sorry sir, if it's not on the shelf, we haven't got it", I was surprised to be asked "Ah, please wait a minute. I'll be right back." Sure as eggs, this guy came back with so many books I couldn't see his face! But not just the books I had asked for - he came back with several others that he thought I would be interested in!

Frankly, I was impressed - to say the least!

 

[m477]

Ouch, that's exactly why I'm scared of taking buses! I've felt stupid before fumbling with coins while people waited behind me in line like at the drugstore or something, but that seems like nothing in comparison to this!

Also, it seems like it would have been a lot faster if someone would have just given him the 30 yen...

 

[TyPe-ZeRo]

haha, thats truly one of those "helpful" stories... i guess i have one myself

Back in middle school we had a bus stop right infront of the entrance and so its a good 30-45 minute walk to my apartment, and its really crowded where i live so i often get lazy and we screw over the bus driver, this is the Metro bus, like it costs $1.35 or a bus token or transfer to get in and so we just walk in, put in like 50c or anything higher and pretend we're searching frantically we just look at the bus driver and say "im a bit short" every SINGLE time he took 3 of my friends and myself to our stops witha smile hahah but i dont think you should do that..

 

[Hiroshi66]

Wow, guess the Japanese passengers were really helpful!

Sometimes I actually worry about being persecuted when moving to Japan, but other times when I read stories like this, I calm down and get excited again.

Thanks for posting!!