Our Story: The Roku Man (60,000 yen) Miracle

 When we were on our trip to Japan in 2026, I wandered around Kyoto in the mornings so I could see some extra things, and one of the places I went was called Shimogamo shrine. To get there, I had to get on the subway, make a transfer to a train line, and then make a decent walk from there. It was a lovely day, and I bought a subway pass, knowing that I'd need it later on that day as well.

I took pictures at the shrine and saw that I still had some time before I needed to go back, so I thought I'd walk over to the Kyoto National Gardens, as they were only about 10 minutes away. On my way there, I came across a vending machine about 2 minutes from the gardens (as one does in Japan) and figured I'd see if it had melon soda, since Tyler was jonesing for some. As luck would have it, the machine had melon soda, so I reached into my jeans' coin pocket and fished out some change, fumbling with the bills in there as I did it. Once I bought the soda, I went to put everything back in my pocket, and I looked at the bills - it seemed as though there were fewer there than there used to be. I counted them. 5000, 6000, 7000...I only had 7000 yen. I thought I had to be mistaken. I should have had 67,000 yen. I counted them again. Still just 7000 yen. I looked around on the ground, thinking that when I went to get the change, the big bills must have fallen out, but they were nowhere to be seen.

I thought to myself where they might have dropped. I was fortunate to know I had those 60,000 yen when I got on the subway by the hotel, because I remembered pulling them out. So they had to have fallen after then, potentially when I fished my subway pass out of my pocket at the transfer station, or maybe when I pulled my cell phone out to use it to pay for the train. I also pulled it out to take a photo or two at the shrine, so it may have been there. Either way, I knew I had to go look because I didn't want to be out roughly $450. I said a quick prayer, asking for help in finding the money, and then I started retracing my path, going down the street on the same side, then going over a bridge, then down the gravel path to the shrine. I was hurrying, but I had my eyes on the ground looking for the money. I got all the way back to Shimogamo shrine, looked at where I had taken pictures, and didn't see anything. I figured that it might be at one of the train stations, so I could ask the station master when I went back.

I headed back out of the shrine, but saw a little old obasan who was at one of the shops in front of the shrine who had been there since I first went to the shrine. I asked her if she worked there and if anyone had given her some money that I had dropped. She said she hadn't seen anything, but then deputized some random Japanese lady who was walking by to help me. The lady was happy to walk me back to the train station and ask the guy with me if he had seen it. 

As we walked down the path together, we talked about things - I mentioned that I had lived in Tokyo and come to Kyoto quite a few times in the past. She asked if I had ever been to Shimogamo shrine, and I said I hadn't. I asked her if she had been to it, and she said that this was her first time as well. I assumed that she was someone who had been there a lot and that old obasan knew her. She asked if I was worried, and I said that I would be if it was a bike or an umbrella, but because it was money, I knew someone would turn it in because Japan is such a safe country with great people.

We got about 3/4 of the way down the gravel road towards the station when I noticed on the ground a folded-up bill and a 1 yen piece. I looked closer, and there was my 60,000 yen! The lady couldn't believe it either. She was so happy for me. She shouted "yatta!" and gave me high fives. After a few moments of celebrating together, she went on her way back to the shrine and I went mine. While this wasn't a make-or-break miracle, it still was still one that showed me that the Lord knows and cares about us. I could have made it to the subway station on the other side of Kyoto National Gardens and noticed, or even all the way back to the hotel. But because of that vending machine, I noticed it in time to do something about it. Then, the money happened to be there on the path, even though I had looked there on the way into the shrine and it was nowhere to be seen.