I requested transportation from the hotel to the airport. The driver arrived at the hotel quite early and waited for me. About 20 minutes after leaving the hotel, just as we entered the highway, we discovered the worst possible situation: my companion had left their backpack (containing passport and cell phone) in the hotel lobby. The driver kindly turned back to the hotel. Since it was our day of departure, we didn't have many US dollars on hand, so we paid the extra charge in Japanese yen, which the driver readily accepted. In fact, the driver laughed and said Japanese yen was preferable, which immediately put us at ease. I was told that the driver wasn't fluent in English, and we communicated using Google Translate, but we were able to communicate with almost no difficulty. I caused trouble in many ways this time, but I was very grateful for the driver's polite service despite the language barrier.
