GAiGO Students' Voices

Hello, I'm Ryo.

On June 9, GAiGO students participated in a seminar for those studying to be licenced guides. The licenced guide, who has passed a national exam conducted by the Japan Tourism Agency, can work professionally as both an interpreter and a tour guide for foreign tourists.

I won't write the details of the seminar because some other students have already done well. Instead, I'd like to write what I felt through the event.

We had some discussion about two themes in the workshop. The participants of the workshop were devided into three groups and then started the discussion.

The first theme was "How do you explain Japanese worships of Mt. Fuji to foreigners?" In my group, we talked about the charms of the world-famous mountain. Our conclusion was that Mt. Fuji is an obeject for Japanese people to worship because of its beautiful shape and the fact that it's the highest of all mountains in Japan. Japanese people also feel kinship with Mt. Fuji because it's one of the symbols of Japan.

The next theme was "How do you explain Japanese religious outlook to foreigners?" Sometimes, religious topics are said to be kind of taboo. It's very sensitive for us to discuss, as most of Japanese are less conscious and don't know well about religions and the backgrounds than people in other countries. We thought that Japanese are not non-religious but aren't specially couscious of the religionsin our daily life, so Japanese people take various religious styles for ceremonial occasions. Of course, it doesn't mean we disrespect the religions.

At the end of the workshop, each group gathered what they'd discussed and gave presentations. After that, the lecturer of the seminar offered a conclusion that it's important to explain our culture with not only its pricise data, but also our thoughts and values on it.

We must be conscious of the hints when we guide foreign visitors.