There’s this theory that says people are nice to foreigners. Not just friendly-nice, but they’ll-go-all-the-way-in-their-power-to-help-you-nice.
When I came back to Osaka from Gran Canaria back in 2015, I was looking for some part time jobs. I asked some of my friends that are self-employed if they needed help with anything and when they didn’t, they introduced me to their friends.
One night when I was in a friend’s friend bar somewhere in Kitashinchi area, the owner of the bar introduced me to his friend who happened to be there during my job interview. He was a Japanese guy in his early 40s with somehow a scary look and tattooed arms. Now in Japan, people with tattooed body are usually associated with yakuza (Japanese mafia), so I was a bit skeptic when he asked me to teach him English conversation. But he offered to pay pretty good and I could use some extra money, so I accepted the offer.
It turned out he was pretty sketchy. He admitted he used to do stuffs that are highly illegal. Most probably he really is somehow connected to the yakuza, if he himself isn’t. But he was nice and nothing weird ever happen during our sessions, so I continue to try to make him speak English for 2 hours every week. One day when I was trying to make him talk about his job, he told me his company is opening a Hawaiian donuts cafe and he’ll have a business trip to Hawaii soon. Me, trying to keep the conversation going, told him I’ve never been to Hawaii and I’m jealous of him for escaping from winter. He then invited me to come along with him and two other employees to help with interpreting meetings.
At first I thought he was just joking, but to my surprise he was actually serious. He said hiring a professional interpreter there will probably cost more or less the same. Though I highly doubt that, I got to go to Oahu Hawaii, for the very first time, for free! The flight, hotel, and meals were all paid for :)
This experience may or may not be an example of the ‘people are nice to foreigners’ theory, but I do feel very lucky to meet different kinds of people in Osaka :)
This post is one of my favorite post from my old blog copied.
https://travelingtako.wordpress.com/