Last week, at a tiny ramen shop in Tokyo, a very large American man was losing a fight with a vending machine. In a lot of Japanese ramen shops, you don't order from a person. You buy a meal ticket from a machine first. This machine had about forty buttons. All in Japanese. He was about to press the most expensive one. Extra pork, extra noodles, extra egg. Basically the "I have given up" button. So I walked over and helped him pick a regular bowl. He looked at me like I had just pulled him out of a burning building. We ended up sitting next to each other at the counter. He was from Texas. When the ramen came, he froze, because everyone around us was slurping loudly. I told him that in Japan, slurping means it's delicious. It's a compliment to the chef. He nodded once. Then he slurped louder than anyone in the entire shop. He finished first, waved, and walked out. When I went to pay, the owner shook his head. "Your friend already paid for you." As a Japanese person, I could not accept this. I ran out and chased him down the street. He just laughed and said, "Pay it forward, man." He explained that in America, when a stranger does something nice for you, you don't pay them back. You do something nice for the next person. So today, I went back to the same shop and paid for a stranger's ramen. He was very confused. I told him, "An American told me to."