Never forget the feelings of gratitude every day.

Our newspaper will celebrate its first anniversary in December. We would like to introduce an article we have seen that could be a good example of the type of story that our newspaper is aiming at. A historically famous Japanese confectionery shop headquartered in Tokyo has been closed during the period when the main shop has been undergoing renovations. For the salutation, there are words of praise such as “It was impressed” and “This is truly the model of the merchant” from people. The following is an excerpt from the TORAYA official website.
We were blessed with many wonderful encounters during the 51 years since this shop opened its doors to customers. A male customer who visits the shop without skipping three days always has an Oshiruko. A customer who was a kindergarten student at that time always comes with his mother every morning to buy a small yokan. There was a time when the boy came alone. The clerk was worried and went outside to see that his mother was hiding secrets and watching over him. A female customer approaching 100 years of age came in a wheelchair. Her family bought her soft fresh confectionery items and dry confectionery items since she had been hospitalized. Since she could no longer eat meals, we heard she started to break down and eat our dry confectionery food. We cannot write down here the time spent together with our customers in this way, but the figures of each and everyone are vividly burned in our hearts.
When I am abroad, such words soak my heart. At the same time, I reflect that I shall not forget to tell myself and the staff to recognize once again the day-to-day gratitude which is being neglected by the chasing of daily work, and the lack of compassion by other parties. Once again, I want many Cambodian people to understand the importance of encounters and the meaning of work.
The other day, I received a call from a Japanese tourist. He came from Vietnam. He bought a flight without knowing that he couldn’t re-enter within a certain period of time, and he was informed about that during the return flight at Phnom Penh airport. He had been troubled with the air ticket that became invalid, but nobody would help him afterward. He was charged a high rate by the taxi, and it was unfortunate that he didn’t know where the bus stop was even though he was able to buy the bus ticket. Even though the problem started in Vietnam, such trouble also continued in Cambodia, and he began to hate this country. If someone had just cared a little, it would have prevented him from such an unfortunate experience.
When something doesn’t go well, we tend to make an escape route in ourselves “because we are working abroad”. However, originally, we shall have an unshaken stance for that said work anywhere we go. I want to keep in mind to not forget the words cited above as a valuable lesson to make me think of it again.