Everyone has something to teach you.

Meet Miyuki and Yokimoto Miyagi, shown in the photo above. They own Marumiya Ramen, a restaurant directly across the street from our Airbnb in Akebono, the more industrial part of Naha. We stumbled into their restaurant half jet-lagged and half over-stimulated from navigating the city on the first day.

As soon as we sat at their bar alongside the kitchen, we became fast friends. Though we used the best of our Japanese to order, they were much more interested in being able to practice their English. Within the first five minutes of ordering, Yokimoto and I discovered that we may have crossed paths before⁠—he has a sister that worked at the Uwajimaya in Bellevue, Washington and had been there not long ago to visit her. Despite my best efforts to experience how big the world is, I am constantly reminded that the opposite is true.

Without plans later that evening, we took our time filling up with pot stickers, ramen, and Asahis. We talked about their restaurant and how they met, what they liked to cook, and their children. We laughed about a sketched portrait we noticed on the fridge, lovingly titled by his wife: "Yukibo."

Miyuki, whose English did not come as easy as Yokimoto's, used Google Translate to tell us that we should make time to see a famous aquarium on the eastern side of the island. Without a car and much desire to spend time commuting on a tourist bus, we told them we likely wouldn't be able to make it work. She quickly responded, "I'll drive you." In typical Japanese fashion, we repeatedly insisted that they offered too much, and they repeatedly assured us that it would be no trouble at all.

The next morning, we packed into Miyuki's kei car—a tight fit for the three of us—and drove the two hours to the Churaumi Aquarium, reveling in the landscape of Okinawa that we hadn't seen yet (and, at times, fearing a bit for our safety as Miyuki broke out her phone to translate difficult phrases). For a moment, I wondered if this was really the best idea. After all, I'm getting into a car with a relative stranger not only in a place I didn't know, but whose native language I also didn't speak.

The car ride over was spent asking about each other's lives; some familiar, and some much more abstract. Do you have siblings? How old are they? Do you live in a city? What do you do for work? Are you religious? What do you do with your body when you die? All in the effort to make each other feel a little more understood. A little less like a stranger.

We took turns practicing words, us in Japanese and her in English. She asked the reason for coming to Okinawa, and then laughed at the response: "to see you." She spoke into her phone and then showed me the English translation which said, "nothing in the world is an accident." I'm beginning to think that's true.

Beyond a few new words and phrases, Miyuki taught me a new kind of kindness I'm not sure I had experienced before. Would I have dropped my plans for the day to drive two strangers to an aquarium? I'd like to think it's possible, but honestly, it's unlikely. I still need to pay her kindness forward.

Turning this lesson to the creative industry, I realize how much knowledge I've gained from friends and coworkers who are creative and knowledgeable in very different ways than I am. Taking note of how they work, how they handle difficult tasks, how they verbalize tough news, how they raise the energy of the people around them; how they are empathetic, brave, patient, inventive, resourceful, and strong. All lessons that are good to learn many times over.

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