And who protects the crossing guard? 👹🍣🎎 My Japan

Once again I was the chosen one and therefore had to get up a little earlier than usual that Wednesday. I had a very special task ahead of me, which I was already assigned to last fall. This morning, my job was it again to stand at that large and busy crossing in our neighborhood and make sure that the few schoolchildren who want to cross the traffic lights on their way to elementary school get to the other side of the road safely. Whether I was really needed for that is a completely different matter, but for the aforementioned reason, I went to the designated traffic lights, and just like last time, I was equipped with a small yellow flag with which I would signal to the turning traffic to wait a moment.

Not a difficult task, and I was actually in a good mood when I left the house and went to the scene of the action. However, I can call myself lucky to have arrived there at all. On the way there, I was almost run over by the driver of a black Mercedes SUV, who, without even pretending to stop at the stopping signal for a fraction of a moment, turned full speed into the small street I was coming out of. There was no sidewalk and if I was walking just a little further in the middle, my day would have ended right there. But as it was, the bullet whizzed past me and I could only stare after it in disbelief. The mentioned stop line is ignored quite often, but I had never seen anyone come around this corner with so much enthusiasm.

I quickly tried to forget this first surprise of the day and dutifully stood at my traffic lights and waited for customers. There wasn't much to do in the twenty minutes I was there, but every now and then I was able to escort a few elementary school children onto the crossing and help them on their way across the street.

It was actually a bit of fun, and I wondered all the time what all the other people around me were thinking when they saw me standing at these Japanese traffic lights this very morning.
Not even here you're among yourselves anymore, these damn foreigners have to interfere everywhere now.

Maybe that's what the driver was thinking too, who, just as I was holding my little flag to keep the way clear for a couple of school children, decided to overlook me. Just as I turned to go back to my side, he rushed by in front of me and again it was only by a hair's breadth that I escaped my fate. Just to be clear, I had only walked a few meters onto the road and was still in the first lane, and in addition I was bravely holding that little yellow flag in my hand. But where there's a will, there's always a way - that must have been in the driver's mind at that moment, and in the end he was proven right. At first I wanted to smash my flag on his roof, but knowing better I refrained from this act of vandalism. It is widely known that being right does not always mean having justice on your side, and that goes for Japan as well. And after all I had more important things to do that morning than explain my impulsive actions, however justified they might have been.

The rest of my performance went without further incident and I managed to make it back home without being hit by a car or anything else. Of course, I now had a topic for the rest of the day, and since we should never lose the lesson, I realised how important it is to be more careful and cautious when you are on the road. Be it as a driver, cyclist or pedestrian, there is only a fine line to the next disaster, and we better avoid that by all means.

However, I was also able to bring back a few positive things from my performance as a school crossing guard. I received genuine smiles and greetings in my direction, which I was only too happy to return and which showed me that this world is not lost after all. And I took this feeling with me wherever I went and drew positive energy from it for the rest of the day. And of course I also expressed my thanks to my guardian angel. Please stay with me!