Always Picture Ready

The peace sign. Its everywhere in Japan. Any picture that is being taken, whether they are 2 or 92 years old, will almost always have it.

I've asked Japanese homeless people if I can take a picture with them... they always sport the peace sign.

I've seen 90 year old Japanese ladies with walkers, posing in front of famous temples, trying to balance themselves so that they can show their peace sign.

I've even seen 2 year old Japanese kids that can't put their fingers in the peace sign position yet, which ends up being 3 fingers instead of 2. Nevertheless, it was a peace sign in the making.

The peace sign is everywhere. And its like a loaded pistol... always ready to go.

So, I was having dinner with Heather and my friend Kiyoka, when I fell in love with our waiter. Not in a romantic way. He was just so cute and he reminded me of a friendly little elf. Always happy and super sweet with big bright eyes. Like the kind of elf that I'd love to have around at Christmas time to help me wrap...

Anyways...

He was completely busy the whole time, but never failed to be polite and helpful. After dinner, he brought our check and waltzed us up to the register to pay. While he was busy with a few other customers, and while Heather and Kiyoka were figuring out the bill, I decided to get a quick picture of our little elf in action. So without asking for a picture I just snapped one... in less than a second, he was perfectly posed with a peace sign and all. A perfect picture. No blur at all. Then, in less than one second, he was back to helping customers again.

Talk about service with a smile! He even thanked ME for taking the picture.

Just goes to show that even when you're busy, there's always time for a smile (and a peace sign of course).