I do have several friends who are mostly academics in the Universities. They are very nice people. Just before Covid a young Postdoctoral Research Immunologist from Tokyo was with us for 12 days. She wanted to visit Anuradhapura, Dambulla, Sigiriya, Kandy, Ella, NuwaraEliya, Passikudah & downsouth beaches and we took her around to more places than she planned.
Her mother lives near the Toyota City and on our visit there she invited us for a traditional Japanese lunch.
On our last visit to Japan we met a young girl, a first year Uni student who volunteered as a guide and took us everywhere in Kyoto. Only her meals to be provided. Every morning she's at the hotel at 8.30 and spends the day with us and served as an excellent guide, taking us to where it deserves a visit, goes home after dinner. On the last day we gave her a token present in an envelope, which she completely refused to accept. After much persuasion my wife bought her a pendant and a chain only to remember us. She selected the lowest in price. She gave us a beautiful handcrafted artwork completed by her mother.
She said the time spent with us is priceless, she gains insights of other cultures while improving her English. She plans to join Japanese Foreign service. She's quite beautiful and about four years elder to my son. They are still friends even to date. Talk every couple of weeks. We invited her to visit SL once she completes her studies. There are nice people around the world.