Really, Pam? Really?

Pam Jones, Bridget's mother in the movie Bridget Jones's Diary, when talking about Mark Darcy's Japanese ex-wife, calls her a member of a "cruel race". While this likely is done for plot and/or comedic purpose, it may also be a commentary by the screenwriters about Japan's aggression in China and the Pacific before and during World War II. While some nations feel that the government of Japan still owes amends for its war crimes (a topic that is not the focus of this post or this blog), in my trips to Japan, I've found the people of Japan to be anything but cruel.

As mentioned in a previous post, on the first day that I went to my one-day-a-week kindergarten, I was unaware that I needed to pack a lunch since I eat kyuushoku (school lunch) with the students at my main school. Upon learning that I had no lunch, the jimuin (teacher's room manager) left school in cats-and-dogs rain to buy me something to eat and then wouldn't allow me to repay her. 

During my first month or two of being here, I needed to see a bank teller to handle a transaction since my bank card had not yet arrived. So T.-sensei, my jimuin, took me to the bank one day after lunch. As we were walking into the bank, I smelled the most heavenly scent coming from the bakery just across the street. And as we were walking out of the bank, I told T.-sensei that I would like to go into the bakery to see what smelled so wonderful. While I was looking at the cases trying to decide if I wanted anything, T.-sensei was making a purchase of six madeleines, yummy French pastries, that she then proceeded to give to me, for they had been the source of the wonderful smell.

In working to transfer N.P.'s scooter into my name, I asked several other AETs for assistance. Some of the AETs were kind enough to help me directly. But others said, "Talk to...." And when I would talk to..., he or she would say, "Talk to..." and before I knew it I was circled back around to the first person with whom I'd spoken. It was frustrating since I had no idea what I needed to do and felt that the scooter experts in the group were passing the buck. But when I told K.-sensei, my school nurse, about one of the questions for which I needed help, she and N.-sensei, the jimuho (handyman / groundskeeper), spent an hour online searching for the scooter's model number so that I could fill out the change of ownership paperwork.

My nephew's seventh birthday is this weekend. And I searched many stores here and in Tokyo over the course of several weeks in order to find just the right gift. The special education teacher called a couple different stores to ask if they had the items for which I was searching so that I wouldn't have to traipse all over the city once again. And when the one item that would complete the gift remained elusive, K.-sensei said that she would keep her eyes open for it. I told her to not worry about it, since I knew that it meant she would make a special trip to find that item. As anticipated, when I arrived at work the next day, not only had she found that elusive item but she'd also found several extra-special bonus items and wouldn't accept money for any of it.

I find the Japanese people to be more Christ-like in their actions than many Christians I've met, including myself. And it's not just the people at school who know me who've been so kind. They think of others before they think of themselves. They apologize for things that they personally did not do (e.g., attack at Pearl Harbor). And they go out of their way to help a person in need. In my experience, Pam Jones doesn't know what she's talking about.