Japanese gifts O Settai

This morning we heard a story on the radio about 10,000 Yen notes being left in toilets in Japan, here's a link to the story .

It is not uncommon for Japanese to assist people, especially pilgrims. They believe by helping others achieve good things they derive benefits from those good deeds. Pretty sound thinking by my account.

While walking around Shikoku we received such gifts on a number of occasions. One fellow stopped his car and gave us $10. Another occasion two women sat at a temple handing out $5 to all walking pilgrims. Some shops would not accept payment for drinks, fruit and food we wanted to purchase.

I can't think of a day that went by where some local didn't go out of their way to help us. So perhaps the dogma of religion doesn't totally eclipse the philosophy. Which in turn makes the community a better place.