Do you know the story about Hachiko ?
I wrote a post about that faithful dog…click here to read it.
I know that there is an event every year on April 9th in 渋谷 (Shibuya, Tokyo) in honor of Hachiko. That date was chosen because it’s the anniversary of the day the famous statue of the dog was erected near the train station where Hachiko patiently waited everyday for his master to return home…even after his master died.
I didn’t know, until I saw the Google logo on Saturday (November 10, 2012) that Hachiko was born on November tenth.
Google’s logo for Hachiko’s birthday (Nov 10).
I probably wouldn’t have even mentioned it…except for the fact that my birthday is also November 10th.
Anyways…
Today (November 13th) is “World Kindness Day“.
This is an event every year on November 13th to remind us to try to do something kind for others. Even a kind word.
I wrote about this day before. Click here to read my post that explains a bit of the history of this event…it started in Japan.
I like to read stories about people being kind rather than the usual unhappy stories that are always in the news.
Have you heard any uplifting stories about someone being kind? Tell about it in the comments!
Tokyo Five 
I heard of a random act of kindness from a friend at the beginning of the summer. He was in Tokyo, going through a toll booth on the Shuto expressway and was told by the attendant that the car ahead of him had paid his Y600 toll!!!!!!!! This had happened to me once a long time ago in Florida and I’d heard of it happening on other toll roads in the US, but had never, ever heard of or experienced it in Japan!! And when it happened to me in FL, the toll was only $1. But Y600 is about $7.50 (according to the Tokyo-Five currency converter LOL), that’s a lot of money to spend on a stranger!
Even though I think Japanese people on the whole are far more polite than Americans, I think random acts of kindness are more rare in Japan than in the US. From my experience, Japanese people are far less likely to interact with strangers than Americans are.
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You’re right … paying a stranger’s road toll isn’t something that most Japanese would do.
People here will help a stranger who is in obvious need of help but paying the toll for the next person for no reason would seem odd to most Japanese.
Do you use my Tokyo Five app?
Thank-you.
Which parts of the app do you use? Any suggestions for it?
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Happy (belated) Metal Birthday, Metal Buddy!! Whoa! Hope your birthday was cool and Rockin’!
There are many random acts of kindness going on around us here in the U.S., only it doesn’t make for “interesting news”… usually a “special segment” of the news (rarely) is dedicated to such things over here. Sounds ridiculous, I know and I agree with your thoughts entirely.
With that said, there has been “limited” news coverage of courageous volunteers giving their time and expertise “free of charge” towards helping the hurricane victims in New York and New Jersey. Just my knowing these acts of kindness are happening “behind the scenes” makes me feel happy for those being helped.
Lately, many stores have been asking for 1 dollar donations at the check-out registers for various worthy/credible charities. I’ll say “yes” many times, it’s hard to always say no. I bought a children’s book at Barnes & Noble this past weekend and donated it to the store’s charity for underprivileged children this coming holiday season. 🙂
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>Happy (belated) Metal Birthday
Thanks! My wife and daughters made a great birthday dinner for me.
>courageous volunteer…helping the hurricane victims
That’s great. The media should focus some time on them. I like to hear that type of news.
>I bought a children’s book…and donated it to…underprivileged children
Very generous! That’s the spirit of “World Kindness Day”…it was originally called “Small Kindness Day” because that’s enough to make a difference—a small act of kindness.
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