Source: Tsubaking (@Mr_tsubaking) - image reproduced with permission

A community’s touching reaction when an older shop owner has to take time off

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the best and the worst out of people. While we have seen some less-than-inspiring incidences during the outbreak, you'd be remiss to think that everyone is selfishly hoarding essentials or flipping out at store clerks.

Rather, on the contrary, lockdowns and trying times have motivated many residents in Japan to dig deep as they strive to help one another "weather the storm." Billionaire founder of the online mail-order fashion site ZOZOTOWN, Yasaka Maezawa, launched his “Single Parent Support Fund” in May. The program distributed payments of 100,000 JPY ($930) to single parents across Japan. Furthermore, frontline workers and others have considered the dire situation a chance to express their gratitude towards family members. More specifically, a nurse wrote her daughter a farewell note in case the worse should happen and leave her unable to say goodbye. On the other hand, a husband expressed his rekindled love for his wife after working at home with her during lockdown.

“Get Well Soon!”

Unfortunately, closed shops and other shuttered small businesses are commonplace in Japan currently as the coronavirus outbreak slams demand. As a matter of fact, the government has been forced to leverage creative stimulus programs to get consumers out and about and shopping again.

Amid such circumstances, broadcast writer and band member of the new wave band Boogie the Mach Motors, Tsubaking (@Mr_tsubaking) noticed a local Chinese restaurant had temporarily closed. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the elderly shop owner had posted a notice. The note informed customers that the shop would be closed as the owner dealt with lower back pain—sad news for anyone in search of fried rice and dumplings.

Reproduced with permission from Tsubaking (@Mr_tsubaking)

The drummer posted about his observation in a September tweet.

“There is an old Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood. The owner is an older man, so of course he’s not on social media. However, there was a huge reply to a notice he posted saying he’d be taking some time off.”

As it turns out, Tsubaking wasn’t exaggerating. Many of the Chinese restaurant's regular customers left warm, get well messages for the elderly owner. From "Hope you get better soon" to "we can't wait for you to come back," they showed that the owner's presence, and cooking, was missed by the local community

.

Reproduced with permission from Tsubaking (@Mr_tsubaking)

Sure enough, over a period of several weeks, patrons covered the notice with well-wishes.

Reproduced with permission from Tsubaking (@Mr_tsubaking)

Naturally, Tsubaking’s Twitter followers found the situation to be heart-warming. They commented online:

  • “When I first saw this notice nothing was written on it. Everyone really loves him.”
  • “This type of thing is great to see. I hope he gets better soon.”
  • “This type of thing is unusual. What a nice world we live in.”

Indeed, I'm sure the owner will be happy to come back and realize how everyone has missed him.

By - Luke Mahoney.

Tags:
/ /