Helping a Stranger Made Him Miss His Bullet Train—and the Reason Was a Marital Argument

The other day, I was watching a morning television program when one of the presenters shared a story about an act of kindness that went wrong.

A woman was crouched down on a Shinkansen bullet train platform.

The presenter wondered whether she was ill or had been caught up in some kind of incident. Worried, he spoke to her and asked people nearby to call a station employee.

Just then, the train he had planned to take departed.

He had sacrificed one Shinkansen for the sake of a complete stranger. To make matters worse, he also had to pay an additional reserved-seat fare.

Up to this point, it was an admirable story of helping someone.

The problem came afterward.

An Unexpected Marital Argument

The woman was not crouching because of a sudden illness or an accident.

Incredibly, she was simply upset after an argument with her husband.

Her husband eventually arrived, and the two reconciled. Then they walked away happily together.

The presenter was left behind alone, having watched the Shinkansen he was supposed to take depart.

The couple happily made up. The presenter lost not only time, but money as well.

It was an absurdly unfair outcome.

The program presented it as a funny story, and I could not help laughing too.

But at the same time, it made me think.

Kindness Has a Cost

When we see someone in trouble, we should help.

That is morally correct. In reality, however, helping someone also has a cost.

Missing a Shinkansen, as in this case, disrupts your schedule. There was also the financial loss of paying another reserved-seat fare.

If the woman had truly been seriously ill, the person who helped her could probably have accepted the loss.

But the situation feels different when the reason was merely a marital argument.

It may have been a serious problem for the couple themselves, but was it really something that required a stranger to sacrifice a Shinkansen journey to intervene?

The couple in question simply reconciled and went home.

Only the person who showed kindness suffered a loss. An experience like that could make anyone hesitate the next time they encountered a similar situation.

Is There a Correct Way to Help Someone?

What makes this story difficult is that, at the beginning, no one knew why the woman was crouching on the platform.

She really could have been seriously ill.

But with the Shinkansen about to depart, simply taking the time to call a station employee could be enough to make someone miss it.

Would it have been better to ignore her and board the train?

In the end, there is probably no answer that would satisfy everyone.

Help, or do not help.

Ultimately, I think the choice comes down to which decision will leave you with less lingering regret.

If you can miss the Shinkansen and still think, “I am glad that person was safe,” then that is fine.

You can also choose to prioritize your own plans and board the train. But if you then cannot stop wondering whether the person was all right, you may still feel that you lost something.

Whichever choice you make, you are the one who has to live with the result.

So what would I do?

Honestly, I would probably tell myself, “A station employee will notice her soon enough,” board the Shinkansen, and forget about it.

I am not generous enough to sacrifice my own plans for a complete stranger.

The Third Victim of a Marital Argument

Still, the funniest part of this story is how the marital argument ended.

The couple reconciled, and they lived happily ever after.

Yet a third party who had nothing to do with their argument missed his Shinkansen and had to pay another reserved-seat fare.

There is an old Japanese saying that even a dog will not get involved in a marital quarrel.

In this case, the dog was wiser than the presenter—and kept its reserved-seat fare.