One store had a stuffed penguin in the window, an odd sight that I noted. A few minutes later we passed by another shop that had a sign with a picture of a penguin. We soon arrived at the bridal shop, where right outside the front door stood, incongruously, a beautifully detailed four-foot tall ceramic penguin. Like, I said, . . . No, I never saw another penguin image in Kyoto.
Some people are willing to draw a sweeping generalization from a single odd incident.
Many more people will leap to conclusions from two unusual incidents that confirm a pattern. Beyond that, even skeptics start to think twice. The language needs a word for bizarre coincidences that occur in clusters of three of more. Please forward this to anyone who might be interested.