Originally Posted by
joer1212
I think being female helps a lot, especially if you have a kid with you.
If that's your assumption then it will almost certainly become your experience.
Never found that people were any more helpful when I had a kid with me than before I had one, having a child just took me back to where I was a few years ago. Before getting pregnant I'd been accumulating experience in Tokyo and thus needed less assistance, visiting with a child cancels out some of that experience meaning that you are back to doing things for the first time and using routes you are unfamiliar with (like taking a bus despite the route taking longer because the stop is much closer than the nearest subway station, vital when your companion has become a deadweight)
Originally Posted by
jib71
I've had several unsolicited offers of help. I guess I look vulnerable.
I've met this FTer, not female, and fits my idea of "approachable" (definitely not vulnerable).