Hello everyone, I recently had my first trip in Japan that I wanted to make since I was 11 years old. Everything was amazing but what stood out to me most was Japan's people. It's no secret that japanese people are kind and caring, and the guy we met in Dotonbori was no exception. I am talking about a man probably in his 30s with a fujifilm instant camera. I spotted him in front of the Glico man sign 2 or 3 times in the span of 3 days while we were having our walks in the area but didn't think much of it until one day we decided to take a picture in front of glico man since there were not many people around and would be easier. The man was there once again and the time was 11:58pm. As soon as he saw us taking pictures he rushed toward us holding up his phone and speaking Japanese in a rushed manner. At first we were a bit startled thinking he might be up to no good but after looking at his phone we realized that he had written down in his best effort (in english) that the running man sign will turn off in 2 minutes at 00:00, he kept going around people and showing them his phone to let them know. Thanks to him we quickly snapped our souvenir shots with our phones and we thanked him for his kind intervention since that was our last night, and thus our last chance to get the photo. Had it not been for him we would definately miss the sign being on. After thanking him he was insisting to take a photo of us with his instant camera and he wanted to give us the photo to take home saying "写真, 写真". The kind man took the photo of us and he gave it to us, a few seconds later the sign turned off. He did all that with a huge smile on his face, and pure excitement. You can tell that this man simply enjoyed being there taking photos and helping other people take theirs and make sure no one missed the glico sign. We imediately offer him some money but he would not take them. I felt overwhelmed at that point maybe because I was also emotional already that the trip was nearly over and I was met with such kindness from a stranger, so I insisted on giving him some money as I also did not have anything else on me that I could give him. Finally after not accepting anything we thanked him once again and returned a smile and the positive energy he was so full with. It's been 2 weeks already since this happened and I still think about this man non-stop. I just wanted to write about this on the sub in case any one else also has an experience with him and if not then for people to get to know about him, and maybe give him a smile and some positive energy back. His kindness was one of my last experiences of Japan.
by HuskyPsycho