It was a lovely, sunny day and I was having a stroll around the Hiroshima castle, which has lately become my favourite place. I was just walking around, exploring some of the narrow and not-so-narrow streets, getting out of my comfort zone (and by that I mean going to a supermarket that I don’t usually go to), reading a book in the sunshine. You know, good vibes only. And just when I thought that the weirdest thing of the day would be the dessert cheese – strawberry, chocolate or blueberry flavoured cheese, that in reality tasted like yogurt, something really weird happened.
I was on my way home when I heard someone shouting “Help! Help me!”. At first, I questioned my Japanese and wondered whether it meant what I thought it did. After regaining some confidence in my language skills, I turned around and saw a man carrying two huge boxes. Or rather, trying to carry them. So now the dilemma. Do I play a dumb ignorant foreigner, or do I go and help him?
Being the good girl I am, I decided for the latter. He might have been about 60-65 and looked rather surprised that I showed up out of nowhere. Was he even calling me to help him? anyway, I offered my help with the boxes. Turns out he only wanted to carry them up the stairs. I guess I was late to the party (pun not intended – you’ll see why-, but I’ll roll with it). So I helped him and he was so delighted that when the door opened, he invited me to join in.
As the door opened, I saw a bunch of people, maybe around 20, looking at me surprised. And then being invited to join the New Year’s party (it was the 8th Jan), eat their food, have a drink with them, sing with the two trans people wearing a kimono (which I refused, since my singing is… not the best, let’s say), listen to live piano music and talk lots (finally some Japanese practice, good job me!), I was shocked. I knew no one, even though some of the guests thought that I was a friend of the man, so I had to explain over and over again that I had never met him before.
Either way, the food was good. What a shame I’d eaten lunch before my walk. And as I didn’t want to ruin their whole party, after maybe an hour, I excused myself, took the sweets they forcingly put into my bag (after an unsuccessful attempt of putting it into my pocket (how am I supposed to control my sugar consumption like this?!)) and a flower (how cute!!), tried to show my gratitude for their kindness and hospitability and went home, calling my closest people and sharing what’d just happened, completely shooketh. And here I am now, sharing with the internet, still completely shooketh. Eyo~!
How lucky was I that they were genuinely nice people. Had it been someone else, I might have ended up drugged and sold on black market or something. Though I guess it’s worth helping others? But man, WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!
