The Japanese are renowned for their kindness to foreigners. I tell myself this late at night as I shiver in my pajamas, my wife having once again swiped all the bed covers. And as the chatter of my teeth quickly makes it too noisy to sleep, I remember that many foreigners -- especially those from non-Western lands -- consider the Japanese reputation for benevolence to be exaggerated.
While I cannot comment on the cold feelings that some Japanese have for the outside world, I do know I am about to put my wife to the ultimate test of compassion. Will she or will she not share the blanket with this poor, freezing foreigner . . . who also happens to be her husband and father of her kids?
I softly nudge her and coo my request, something like, "Hey! Give me the blanket or else!"