Even in Japan
Unfortunately I don’t believe it’s available online, but while I was in Oita one of my friends wrote an article for the Tombo Times (the local English publication) entitled “Even in Japan.” The premise of the article is that we often tend to focus on the differences between our home countries and Japan, but many of the same bizarreness exists in both of them. Japan, just as in America, has its nuts, its political extremists, its culture wars, and former pro-wrestlers being elected to public office. So instead of saying, “Only in Japan,” we could just as well say, “Even in Japan.”

And although Japan is famous for having a well-structured society, even in Japan there are homeless people and people who approach you on the street for money. In the past two weeks I have been approached for money twice, which is surprising for me because up until now it has never happened to me in Japan even once.

When I related the incident to Shoko, she theorized that since a native person was very unlikely to give hand outs to homeless people on the street, perhaps the homeless have learned to approach foreigners instead. That would explain why in a crowded train station an elderly man speaking absolutely no English would single me out as the one person he asked for money.

As I’m sure many of you also have, I’ve learned the hard way it’s not smart to give out cash on the street. At first I was young and idealistic and thought it was my Christian duty to give out money to anyone in need, but I stopped doing that after I twice gave out a significant amount of money to someone, and then realized the story (usually about desperately needing food for a family) was completely false. I know many of you have had similar experiences, especially Phil Christman, if he’s reading this.

So back in America I’ve developed a policy of never giving out cash, but offering to buy food for anyone who needs it. This usually works pretty well. I once had someone approach me in Grand Rapids for money. I offered to give him the food I had with, and he said he didn’t want it. I then offered to drive him to the supermarket, and at that point he said, “Look, I’ll be honest, I just want a drink.” After that I decided I would definatelynever just give out cash again.

An old women approached me in an outdoor shopping mall in down town Gifu last week. As with the old man in the train station, she zeroed in on me even though she couldn’t speak any English and I was the only foreigner in a crowded area. “I haven’t had anything to eat for three days,” she said. “I feel like I’m going to die.”

“Let’s buy you some food then,” I said.

“Just give me money,” she answered. Remembering my experiences back in America, I was reluctant to do this. I told her I wasn’t going to give her money, but I’d buy her food. She said that her home was far away from here, and that it was not Japanese custom to eat on the sidewalk, so money would be more convenient for her. We argued about this for a little while, but I stuck rigidly to my principle. After a while she gave in, and bought a few things at the nearby food store, and I paid for it.

We parted company, but she later chased me down again. This time she desperately needed food for her cat, and wanted money. Again I refused to give over cash, so we walked to a convenience store nearby to get her cat food. She picked up some other items while we were there, and I said it was okay.

Then we got to the counter, and she asked the girl behind the counter for a packet of cigarettes. I told the girl to put them back. The lady instructed the girl that it was okay, and to ring up the cigarettes as well. When I said I wouldn’t pay for the cigarettes a small argument broke out, much to the confusion of the poor girl behind the counter.

I insisted cigarettes were unhealthy and so I wouldn’t buy them. However earlier in that evening I had been to that same convenience store, and had bought a candy bar and a coke from the same girl behind the counter. So I was feeling slightly like a hypocrite. Of course in my mind cigarettes are worse, but that’s a value judgment I guess. And if I had decided to treat myself to chocolate and cola, who was I decide that this lady was to be forbidden cigarettes.

In the end I held firm. The lady changed her story a couple times. She said the cigarettes were for an old man, who was near death and his only pleasure was cigarettes. I said if he was near death he shouldn’t be smoking, and she said he was perfectly healthy but he was so old it doesn’t make a difference now.

It was sad to see an elderly lady lying like a child. But was I the one who reduced to her to it? Was I some punk on a power trip, reducing this lady, who was old enough to be my grandmother, into pleading with me? Because I was fortunate enough to have money, was I empowered to make her decisions for her? I’m still not sure I did the right thing. She thanked me for buying her food, and then as I was leaving yelled that I was a bully.