{"id":68,"date":"2021-09-29T02:08:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T02:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/?page_id=68"},"modified":"2021-11-18T07:32:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T07:32:44","slug":"friendliness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/friendliness\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendliness"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Chapter 1: Friendliness<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Friendliness\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
How many people can ride on one motorbike?<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I believe I\u2019ve been to 50 countries so far and to Vietnam four times. On this trip, I concluded that Vietnam ranks highest in \u201cfriendliness.\u201d Many countries are friendly, especially to visitors, and Japan no doubt ranks very high. But there is something special about Vietnam \u2014 to me, the friendliness of the Vietnamese seems authentic \u2014 from the heart, not a mere formality done as part of one\u2019s job (in Japanese, \u5efa\u524d tatemae \u201cface,\u201d \u201cpublic attitude\u201d), but derives from an inner, genuine desire to be nice, kind and considerate (\u672c\u97f3 honne \u201ctrue feelings\u201d). Here are some examples.<\/p>

\u2014 The Hanoi streets are teeming with an endless stream of motorbikes, sometimes with up to five people on one vehicle! As there are few traffic lights, crossing the street feels like \u201ca dangerous challenge\u201d (but is actually safe if you walk slowly). My wife Michal was too scared to try. An old lady saw her hesitation, took her arm, and they safely crossed together. How nice!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Morning walk along the beautiful Danang beach-side.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2014 My wife Michal was sitting on a bench at the Hoan Kiem lakeside when a young man, without warning, suddenly sat down on her lap, leaned against her chest, took a selfie, got up, and left! Now this may sound \u201crude,\u201d you say. My son Baraki tells me that in Japan that\u2019s not just considered rude, it is actually \u201ca crime.\u201d Though I agree that not asking for permission can be considered rude, I see this act as an extension of \u201chuman warmth\u201d and a kind of friendliness.\n\n\u2014 I was walking along the incredibly beautiful beach-side of Danang, as I did every day while attending the Esperanto conference, and became real thirsty \u2014 Danang is soooo hot. I passed by a stall selling snacks, so I asked the seller (of course in Vietnamese) if I can buy a bottle of water. He said \u201cwe don\u2019t sell water,\u201d but he then suddenly pulled out a huge bottle of mineral water, holding his arm out as if trying to hand me the bottle. I first thought that he wanted to give me his bottle, but then realized that he was actually offering me to drink from his personal water bottle!\n\nCan you imagine this happening in any other country? It\u2019s probably rare in Vietnam too. I was almost moved to tears by this heartwarming act of kindness. I thanked him profusely, took a picture, and continued my walk.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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An incredibly kind street seller offers me a drink of water.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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An incredibly kind street seller offers me a drink of water.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Chapter 1: Friendliness [wpml_language_selector_widget] How many people can ride on one motorbike? I believe I\u2019ve been to 50 countries so far and to Vietnam four times. On this trip, I concluded that Vietnam ranks highest in \u201cfriendliness.\u201d Many countries are friendly, especially to visitors, and Japan no doubt ranks very high. But there is something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-68","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":95,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3747,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68\/revisions\/3747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanji.org\/jack\/vietnam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}