Reuniting with a Benefactor

I wrote in an earlier blog post about how, last summer, I was able to visit Vietnam for the first time in five years and reunite with many acquaintances and friends, making for a very fulfilling stay.

However, I had not written about another major event that happened afterward, so today I would like to tell you about it.

In fact, there was an unexpected addition to the trip: the fifth-generation owner came down with food poisoning on the flight home.

We never did find out what caused it, but there was no doubt that it was food poisoning—and it was truly terrifying.

How terrifying? In the fifth-generation owner’s case, it was so severe that he lost consciousness.

Things were fine up to the point when he boarded the China Airlines (Taiwan) flight at Noi Bai Airport, looking forward to the in-flight meal. But about an hour after boarding, he was struck by chills and convulsions, and before long he suddenly became delirious.

He has no memory from that point on, but apparently a flight attendant called out to the passengers, and one woman responded and cared for him.

I later learned that she had put an oxygen mask on him, attached a blood pressure monitor and a blood oxygen monitor, and cared for him continuously while monitoring his condition.

Once the aircraft began its descent, she returned to her own seat and disembarked, but my wife had taken a screenshot of her Facebook profile page before she left, which enabled the fifth-generation owner to contact her later.

Our benefactor turned out to be a nurse working at a hospital in Arizona. After that, we began to keep in touch from time to time, and we told her that we would love for her to visit Japan if she had the chance.

And then, at last, she came to Japan, accompanied by her older sister and two nieces!!

When we reunited, it felt as though we had known each other for years. But when I think about it, he had lost consciousness on the plane, so he did not remember her at all.

It happened to be a Sunday, so I was off work. We invited them to Chef Obara’s Artisan in Ikebukuro, where we enjoyed delicious teppanyaki together and talked about what had happened then, as well as many other things about one another.

The following evening, of course, we invited them to Yahata Sushi.

After all, the greatest thanks the fifth-generation owner could offer her was to have her enjoy sushi he had made.

Their first sushi in Japan might have seemed a little daunting for the nieces, but one of them, perhaps because she loves fish, ate it without hesitation.

Naturally, both she and her sister were very pleased.

Our conversation flowed across the counter, and we all spent a wonderful time together.

By now, they are probably visiting Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and other places.

I hope they will have many wonderful experiences in Japan.

When it comes to the connections we make in life, you never know where or how they may lead.

I hope to continue cherishing each and every connection.

Thank you, Caridel.

By the way, I left the story of the flight unfinished, but there is more to that story as well…

Because the journey from Hanoi to Tokyo was not a direct flight but involved a transit in Taipei, there was no way someone in that condition could simply board the connecting flight. He was put into an ambulance waiting at Taoyuan Airport and taken straight to the hospital.

That story will be a long one as well, so I will save it for another day.