I was being nice today on the train and offered my seat to an elderly woman. Japanese people tend to feign sleeping or ignore them. She was so appreciative she tried to grab my bag to hold on her lap... no matter how many times I politely refused. (It was quite heavy, so I didn't want to pass it off.)
This is one of those weird phenomena in Japan. I have been in a jam-packed commuter train and had someone, who was seated, offer to hold my bag on their lap (it is hard to maintain balance as it is, let alone have a bag smashing into people). To me this is another one of those great quirky things about Japan. I mean, this would never happen in North America - you'd think the person was robbing you. I can understand if you're with a group of people, and one of your group members offers to take your bag, but a complete stranger is pretty amazing.
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