I was just flipping through the pictures I shot in Japan and got stuck with this one picture and the memories started to flow! I have a huge smile on my face when I see this picture and I have a story to tell to the world which I will cherish for the rest of my life. I was deeply moved by the experience I had with this ojiisan (Grandfather in Japanese)
In May 2021, I went on a solo trip to explore Yamaguchi prefecture, which is about 975 km from Tokyo. I flew from Narita airport to Ube, Yamaguchi airport and had to take multiple trains to reach my destination.
I went all the way to Yamaguchi for visiting two beautiful places near Nagatoishi town. One was the moto-Inari shrine overlooking the sea and the other was Tsunoshima bridge with beautiful turquoise color water. If one gets a chance to visit these scenic beauties, I am sure they will understand why I wanted to badly visit these places. One of my friends gave me a heads up that the places are difficult to access when I told him that it is feasible through public transportation. But when I witnessed the public transportation in this area myself, I was a bit worried about my travel.
I usually like long train journeys but this time, I was just exhausted traveling from Yamaguchi Ube airport to Nagatoishi ! I had at least changed 3-4 trains and had a 'meh' experience traveling all the way to this place. I was not able to spot any young people, no people for that matter. I was shocked to see trains at low frequency, and these trains just had one compartment. Even at the peak of the pandemic, this town had only 5 covid positive cases. It was such a remote place. Now I got chills and started to worry even more thinking about the public transportation in the small town.
After a tiresome journey, I reached the Nagatoshi station, I had booked a hotel before my stay which was a bit far from the station. My energy level was totally drained and decided to take a taxi, but was not able to spot one. So, I went to a nearby combini (supermarket in Japanese) and asked their help to book a taxi. I waited for a while and then my taxi arrived. A very old, thin tall man was the driver. He seemed to be about 70 years old and looked like a typical 'Ojiisan'. I told him to drop at my hotel and during my journey, I asked him how to visit the two scenic spots? He said that it's almost impossible as there is no proper transportation connectivity. He also offered to book his car for half a day to visit the places. I was discussing with him how much it will cost and was bargaining his quote. But I was still confident that I could do it using public transport and also thought that he might trick me to use his car service for his own benefit. So I just got his contact number and told him that I will get back to him.
When I checked in to the hotel, I again inquired about access to the places through public transport. They also told the same thing that it's almost impossible to cover the places as the frequency for the buses is super rare. So that evening, I called this Ojiisan who offered to take me to the spots the next day. We agreed on the bargained fare for hiring the taxi. I was exhausted by all the things that happened around me that day and dozed off soon with the lullaby of the sea waves. Yes, my hotel was overlooking the sea and the waves were extremely calming.
Little did I know that the next day would be one unforgettable experience! I woke up in the morning, I was getting ready and got late a bit. So I called my taxi ojiisan. He told me to take my time and we can postpone the schedule by 30 mins. His words were so friendly - "daijioubudayoo". Before leaving the hotel, I had ordered some breakfast in the morning and was quite full.
The taxi Ojiisan came to my hotel and picked me up. He stopped in a nearby convenience store. I thought that he wanted to pick something for his breakfast. So I was waiting patiently in my seat. To my surprise, he checked on me if I had breakfast. I told yes I did! He then insisted me to pick up some water and food as we might not encounter shops frequently. I grabbed a water bottle and a bar of chocolate. Ojiisan too got a pack of water and a sandwich. He then insisted that he will pay for it and told me that it's a present. I denied it a few times but finally, he only paid. I was so moved by his generosity.
We quickly got into the taxi and were heading over to my first spot. Soon in less than 30 minutes, he drove to the Motonosumi Inari shrine. It was a beautiful fox shrine and it was exactly how I pictured it to be. The bright red and the blue combination was a treat to the eyes! I really loved how the tori gates ended at the sea. Having spent quality time and post-clicking several pictures, I was heading back.
Near the parking place of the taxi, I found a small souvenir shop. I have this habit of purchasing magnets depicting the place as a souvenir. When I was looking for what to purchase, there entered my taxi ojiisan. He was also looking at magnets and asked what I liked among those and added that he will buy one for me. I was completely reluctant about this as I didn't want to bother him. But he was too sweet and persuaded me to select one. Finally, I choose the cheapest of the magnets, with the intention of not troubling him and he bought me. It is indeed an unforgettable souvenir. I thanked him and we got into the car, headed to the next spot - the Tsunoshima bridge.
I had one of the sweetest conversations in the taxi with him or in other words - a stranger. Some of the conversations will never fade from my memory. I could sense innocence in his words. He was telling me that he is 72 years old, born & brought up in Nagatoishii, and added that he never wanna live in Tokyo as everyone is super busy! "Tokyo ni sumitakunai, minna isougashisou! watashiwa midori ga suki" were his words. He wanted to spend his life in this remotely populated green town.
I saw happiness and proudness in his eyes when he showed his grand-son and grand-daughters pictures. He questioned me how long I was living in Tokyo, that was the time I was engaged to Gopi, and replied to him that I will be leaving Japan soon. He immediately told, "Please give me a call if you and your husband come again to Yamaguchi, I will take you around". I promised to contact him for sure. I was super astonished by his generosity and innocence the whole time I was with him.
By this time, the second destination arrived. The place I wanted to visit for a long time. I, for sure have a thing for turquoise blue watercolors. That view of the long bridge with beautiful clouds was completely worth the travel! I was just gazing at the scene for a long time. A sense of happiness within me to have visited the place before I left Japan. Yet again! my taxi Ojiisan surprised me! I only had in mind visiting the bridge from one end, but he made me get a drive over the bridge. The view from the other side was beautiful, never seen that scene before in any picture. Also, he showed me a side view of the bridge by detouring it a bit. He was too generous to slow down the car since I was shooting a video of the bridge. Even though he need not do it, still he did.
It was around 11:30 a.m while returning from the bridge and we had finished visiting both the spots earlier than planned. As I had mentioned before, the frequency of the train from Nagatoishi was too less. The next destination of my solo trip was Hiroshima and the train was only at 1:30 pm. Initially, the taxi ojiisan planned to drop me at the station, at 1 pm. I was stunned looking at his generosity again! Since we had some time, he took me to two other beautiful scenic places.
One was a viewpoint from the top of a mountain and the other was a beach! I have never been to a beach in Japan. It was a beach in between the mountains and I had the whole beach to myself! Loved the gentle waves and my favorite turquoise color. I was sitting on the beach all alone and was reminiscing how magical the day was! A number of questions were running on my head like - 'Am I indebted to this ojiisan in my previous birth?', 'How humble and sweet a stranger can be?' and so on!
Having spent more than half an hour on the beach, a voice from behind shouted my name! It was my taxi ojiisan, he told me that its time and we need to head to the station. I immediately grabbed my belongings and went inside the taxi. I was asking him if he had his lunch, he told me that his wife makes him onigiri every day and packs it for him. He told that he wouldn't be able to afford to buy from outside and added "sonnani okane ga nai" ,meaning - I do not have that much money. I felt so sad for him and was feeling sorry for letting him buy a souvenir for me. During our conversation towards the station, he suddenly screamed, "ba-n-biiii". A forest deer was hoping and crossed the road. I as well got overjoyed to got to see it and ended up taking some pictures.
A few minutes later, we reached the station and finally, it was time to bid goodbye to my taxi Ojiisan! He dropped me at the station. He asked me a random question. (All the conversations in Japanese)
Ojiisan : Your mobile will cost money if you make a call, isn't it?
Mithra : Yes! it does
Ojiisan : Okay, once you reach Hiroshima, give a missed call. I will call you back since I want to make sure that you reached safely
Overwhelmed Mithra : Oh yes sure, that's very kind of you! I will ring you instead of the missed call. Thank you for everything. I see my grandfather in you!
Right then, I was just about to get down. Handed over him more money, the same amount of money he asked me yesterday before I bargained. I told him to keep him the entire fare as he took me to many places. I was completely melted by his reply. He told "Yakusoku wa yakusokudayo" - "A promise is a promise" and returned me the extra amount. He told me to eat Okonamiyaki ( a Japanese dish) that was famous in Hiroshima with that money. Adding icing to the cake, you know what else he did? He gave me his sandwich which he brought in the morning. I completely denied it but I failed after a few of his attempts! Poor me.
I got down from the taxi and waved him bye from outside. I thanked him deep from my heart and told him that I was lucky enough to meet him. Without him, it would have been difficult to have explored these remote places. It was drizzling a bit outside. This time, he offered me to take an umbrella that he was having in his car and I declined it strongly saying that I will soon get on the train and I will be fine! I asked him why he was too generous and such a nice person? He told "Yorokonde agetara ureshii yo" which means that he likes to make people happy and that makes him much happy! I was blown away by his reply. I have never met such a warm person who helped me so much. Wish to meet him again in my lifetime!
He indeed left a great impact on me. These are the reasons I love trips! I get to explore the places and people! Especially when I go on solo trips, I understand more about what makes me happy and my vibes. It is just not about visiting places and clicking pictures but getting lost in nature, chasing the sun, and meeting new people! It is the whole experience that you live through, moments that cannot be captured by a camera, but through your heart!