MaineCourse

Hot Springs II

Just before we headed out the door, Deguchi san explained what he wrote in thenote at the desk. He described the camera, the black pouch, and the blue bag."What blue bag?" I asked. "Your blue bag on the bench. I put your camera in the pouch, and then into the blue bag", he explained. "But I had no blue bag. That must have been someone else's." Deguchi san was crestfallen. "Then it was my mistake. I put your camera in another bag, and the owner must have taken it away. Wait here, I'll
go look around." He headed off into another part of the volumnious lobby area and disappeared for awhile. I wondered what he was doing. Maybe looking for someone with a blue bag? In less than 5 minutes he came back with the camera! He said, "I saw someone with the bag and asked them if there was a small camera in it. And there was. The person who had it was very apologetic at having your camera.

On the way out, he was still crestfallen at having made the mistake. I patted him on the shoulder, and said, "there's an old English saying, All's well that ends well".

So here's some bath pictures. You can see Mt Fuji in the background. And there will be new pictures in the following week (which is my last one in Japan).





Shamaru

The Baths

Towel Racks

rakkity shamaru

All's well that ends well ... You never decribe a moment when your attitude towards your host populace changed, which I love. Your faith that something unintentional had transpired is admirable, and was rewarded.

And we, too, will be rewarded by more pictures!

Posted by adam.

Yay, a happy ending. You must be very relieved.

Posted by chris.

Excuse me..."faith in the honesty and reliability of the Japanese had been shattered."

Posted by michael Miller.

Okay, I forgot/missed that line -- should've reread Part I before spouting off ... But the overall tenor was optimistic (though how could it not be, presumably written post-denouement ... ).

Posted by adam.

Yes, I was doubly relieved! First for the reputation of the Japanese, and next for my camera.

"Post denouement", true, but I was wondering if one of the little kids there had picked it up quite unmaliciously.

To indicate how honest the Japanese are, today we were given an envelope containing a wad of yen to pay for our airfare and expenses. I feel like Joey Soprano. My wallet is going to be thicker than George Castanza's. We're supposed to carry this bundle of cash to the airport next week, and then convert it to some other currency (such as US$). And this kind of thing is done by all Japanese. Checks are not used by anyone but bankers. You can assume that most locals crossing the country are carrying lots more cash than would be safe to do in the US.

(Don't pass this information on to your local neighborhood pickpockets.)

Posted by rakkity.

Posted by Michael at December 12, 2005 06:41 AM