Number 179

Something struck me today. I went to the Osaka train station and proceeded to get a number to wait my turn to order seat reservation on a Shinkansen to Tokyo. As I waited I noticed an autistic youth pacing back and forth, worried (audibly so). Every time a new number would appear at one of the widows (each window had its own number counter), the youth would check his number ticket again and again. His number was 179 (mine was 192), and once 169 appeared at one of the windows, he went up to the window to thoroughly compare his number to the one on the counter. After six or so glances back and forth, he finally determined it was not his, and kept pacing. A few digits later, he could tell his number was getting close (meanwhile absent numbers were being thrown out within seconds of not being claimed). 178 arrived at one window, and as he was comparing his number to the almost-correct one, the digits 179 illuminated behind him. Having watched him for the previous 15 minutes, I jumped up from my seat and tapped him on the shoulder saying "sumimasen". Then pointing at the freshly posted number, I followed up with "kochira de". He grinned with relief as he recognized his number; the worker, about to throw the number out, saw the owner was present. I sat back down wondering how this boy was ever going to get to his destination, when I was surprised by what happened. The worker behind the counter closed down his station, and escorted the youth out the door and down to the correct platform, to show him his train. Instead of just being an annoyance that the worker would try to get rid of (which seems natural in any fast-paced society), he cared enough to make sure the young man made it to his train on time.