This:
Not the little booger holding the box of stuff (although he certainly is cute, isn't he?), but the "gomen nasai" box of goodies that we received today. From a guy. That a man would actually think to make an apologetic gesture with a gift (other than when/if he's trying to get out of the relationship doghouse) makes it extra special. ;) Yeah, yeah...I'm so funny.
So here's the story:
Our car began to give us some mechanical trouble awhile back, so we took it in to a Japanese repair shop in hopes that the mechanic could fix the problem without it costing us a lot of dough. Turns out, the car is doomed to be recycled into scrap metal and spare parts...the needed repairs far exceed the car's value plus the added cost of reinsuring it. When we offer to pay for the inspection (keep in mind it took the guy a couple of hours to diagnosis the extent of the problem), the mechanic graciously refused and apologized for not being able to help us. So, we thanked him and left.
Then, I get a call this afternoon from the mechanic, apologizing profusely and telling us that he still had our title (I assume he used it to get price quotes on parts) and if I would tell him where we lived, he would come by and drop it off. I told him it was no problem, we'd be in the neighborhood later and we'd pick it up ourselves. When we go to pick it up, he's waiting for us with the title and a nicely wrapped box containing the items you see above. "Gomen Nasai...I'm VERY sorry," he repeated and handed Chris the box and the title. We hadn't even noticed the title was not in the glovebox of the car, probably wouldn't have noticed until we actually drove it to the junkyard, and we weren't really concerned about it anyway. The mechanic, on the other hand, was VERY concerned based upon the number of apologies (and the box) he gave us.
So, the box contains this cute little hand towel set. Very nice towels, actually. But that's not my point. Here's what I find so great about this little anecdote: a) The mechanic performed a couple of hours worth of work on our vehicle and when he realized that he wasn't going to get paid for a repair job, he still didn't want any form of payment for his time; b) He apologized for not being able to help us; c) He offered to come to our house to drop the title off (granted it was his mistake, but that was still a very nice gesture; and d) He had a "gomen nasai" goody box ready and waiting for us when we came by to pick it up. My first instinct was to politely refuse and tell him that it was really no problem, but then I would have been perceived as rude. Funny how that works here... :)
As much as I'm ready to leave Misawa, this kind of thing is why I've come to love and appreciate the Japanese people so much. It's not so much about the gift, but the gesture. I've dealt with plenty of repair shops in my time (former insurance adjuster here, if you recall), and this is not the norm--mechanics typically don't make a point of "investing" time and money in customers they can't get a return on in kind. M-a-y-b-e if they thought you could potentially bring them business for their "kindness," but this guy is aware that we're leaving in a few months. He fully realized that return on investment opportunities--in the form of referrals and additional repair jobs--were slim to none.
What a NICE guy. I know when relocating often, they say that there are at least three professionals you wish you could always take with you (if they're good): your stylist, your doctor, and finally...your mechanic.
I'd say he's most definitely trifecta material. Arigato gozaimasu, Date-san!!
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