Took a JR Negishi Line train from Ishikawacho Sta. to Shinsugita Sta. Transferred to Kanazawa Seaside Line and got off at Nojima Koen Sta. Walked to Nojima, first to the viewpoint, then to Hirobumi Itoh’s villa. Took Seaside Line again to Uminokoen Minamiguchi Sta. and walked to Shomyoji Temple.

Participants: seven Saint Maur International School guardians (two from Spain and one from each of these: France, India, Mexico, Thailand, and the UK)

Staff: four KSGG guides.

On a bit windy but mostly sunny day at the end of November, a party of seven Saint Maur School^[1] guardians (six mothers and one grandmother from different countries) visited Kanazawa-Hakkei. This half-day tour was planned as a part of the joint project with KSGG and the school for the students’ guardians, especially new comers, to get acquainted with Japanese culture and history as well as survival skills in Japan. Kanazawa-Hakkei, a town on the coast to the south of Yokohama, used to be a popular tourist destination from the 17th century to the early 20th century. The name Hakkei means eight beautiful sights. Although most of the fine sights samurai loved got lost due to industrial development after World War II, the place still has several historic spots worth visiting.
First, the party went up to the top of Nojima, a small island with a round, 57-meter-high hill. At the top, the participants were excited by the grand 360-degree panorama, with Tokyo Bay in the east, a vast test course of Nissan Motors in the south, and over the skyline in the west, Mt. Fuji. Although most of the participants were speakers of English as a second language, they listened to the guide explain the history of the Kanazawa-Hakkei, including the episode of Matthew Perry, an American naval commodore who led a fleet of huge black battleships into Tokyo Bay in 1854. He anchored just off the shore of Nojima, got fascinated with the beauty of the place, and named the bay American Anchorage. His ships amazed and as frightened the samurai government enough to open up the long-closed diplomatic gate of Japan to the world.
After going down the hill, the party visited the villa of Hirobumi Itoh, the first prime minister of Japan, who loved Nojima and its neighborhood. The participants entered the doorway of the humble-looking, single-story wooden building with a thatched roof and were soon impressed with the elaborate interior designs. While listening to the guide talk about the details of the villa and Itoh’s career, they noticed that the cozy house was designed in a practical, traditional Japanese style. They also seemed to be enjoying the feel of tatami mats while walking from room to room, feeling as if each of them was the guest of the 19th-century prime minister. One of the participants from the UK asked about a painting of a three-masted sailing ship. She learned that it was the ship young Hirobumi Itoh sailed on to the UK. She also made sure that it was the Victorian Era. Another participant asked if there was any heating system in the house. She was surprised to learn that the only heater available in those days would be a hibachi, a large ceramic bowl to burn charcoal inside.

Participants listen to the guide explaining the interior of Hirobumi Itoh’s villa.

Then, the party went to Shomyoji, a Buddhist temple established in the 13th century by a samurai lord of the most influential clan in the Kamakura shogunate court. The temple is also known as the site of the first library in Japan. First, at the temple gate, the party looked up a pair of giant wooden, fierce-looking statues of guardian deities and listened attentively to the guide’s talk about the origin and history of this temple. One participant from Thailand liked to talk with the guide about the similarities and differences of Buddhism in her home country. Then they entered the temple site and were immediately attracted by the Pure Land garden^[2] in front of the main hall. All of the party were strongly fascinated by the contrast of the golden leaves of big ginkgo trees against the clear blue sky and the shiny red and gold bridges over the pond. The garden looked very exotic to the participants. Besides, the temple site was quiet enough to make any of them fully enjoy the special atmosphere of the place. Everyone took a lot of photos of each other and selfies on the bridges.
Another of the participants was a grandmother from Spain visiting the family for a short time. Although her English skills were limited, she walked happily, talked a lot with other participants, and enjoyed everything she saw.
On the train back to Ishikawacho Sta., they kept talking happily with each other, sharing the excitement of the half-day tour in which they surely touched a historic reminiscence of Yokohama.

The Saint Maur tour party with KSGG guides on the Pure Land Pond, Shomyoji Temple

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1.^ Saint Maur International School is in Yokohama, in operation for 151 years as the oldest international school in Japan and Asia.
2.^ The Pure Land garden is often placed in the sites of Buddhist temples, designed to reproduce a celestial place on this earth, where believers aspire to be reborn.

At the “Minato Capsule”, a VR theater, the participants watched a brand-new program called “Yokohama Chronicle” (Yokohama Port, bustling through the ages). The program showcased the transformation of Yokohama Port through powerful imagery.

Fortunately, it was the very day when Nippon Maru, a sail training ship, hosted a full-sail exhibit, which occurs almost once a month. After taking group photos in front of the beautiful sailing ship, the participants spent some time taking photos at their own pace.”

The students had lunch at Port Terrace Café of the Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA), where Halal cuisine was also available. After lunch, they visited the Tower Yokohama Kitanaka building and enjoyed the breathtaking view of Yokohama Port from the 46th observation floor.

The final destination was Sankeien Garden, an expansive Japanese garden, featuring a skillful arrangement of historical buildings collected from places like Kyoto and Kamakura within a nature-rich environment. The garden is also well known for its beautiful flowers, including plums, cherry blossoms, azaleas, and autumn leaves. Sankeien is one of Yokohama’s most popular tourist attractions, and visitors from overseas have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Japanese culture while exploring the garden.

At Sankeien, everyone took commemorative photos of the beautiful Rinshunkaku, a former residence of the feudal lord in the Edo Period, which had been recently renovated.

Then the students ascended to Shofukaku, an observation deck in the garden. Once there was a vacation home named Shofukaku there, but now only ruins remain. Tagore, an Indian poet and thinker, had stayed there for a while during his stay in Japan. He is the first Asian laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The participants, especially Indian students, listened attentively to the story of the poet.

Finally, the extensive and diverse tour concluded with group photos taken in front of the large pond in the garden.

Report by Masako

The first origami (paper-folding) workshop** for KSGG members of the 2022 fiscal year was held last October after a long interval, for this activity had been postponed because of COVID-19 pandemic. The second origami workshop for KSGG members of the 2022 fiscal year since then was held on March 7. As 2023 is the year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Zodiac, every participant made two origami rabbits. Because I wanted to make origami rabbits for myself and my foreign acquaintances, and I wanted to teach foreigners how to make an origami rabbit, I decided to take part in this workshop.

Nine KSGG members who wanted to learn how to make origami rabbits and some origami instructors of Origami Team were divided into three groups. Each group consisted of four persons, with one or two origami instructors and two or three KSGG members who wanted to learn how to make origami rabbits. From 2:00 p.m. to around 3:00 p.m., each one made origami rabbits; later, all gathered and took some group photos as a memory of this day, with origami rabbits on the palm of each hand.

Most Japanese including me have made origami at least once in his or her life. This time, however, I had a chance to know more about what origami is. Since origami is the art of folding a sheet of square paper, the finished depends on “folding”: You fold a sheet of square paper not only to form an origami rabbit but also to make a sharp crease; the size of the face of an origami rabbit depends on how you fold a sheet of paper. In the process of making an origami rabbit, you can use a bamboo skewer or a bamboo spatula to make a sharp crease; a pair of scissors are also used to make a cut in an origami rabbit.

Before this workshop was held, the origami instructor of my group had prepared a finished origami rabbit and the sample patterns of an origami rabbit-making process. Taking a look at the sample patterns and listening to the explanations by the origami instructor, the other two KSGG members and I made an origami rabbit step by step. In order to learn making an origami rabbit, first we used a sheet of origami paper at school. After this trial, finally, we made an origami rabbit with thick washi (traditional Japanese paper). Chatting with each other, we made origami rabbits. We learned from the origami instructor that making a sharp crease first is a knack of making a beautiful finished origami rabbit. I had a good and precious time in this one-hour workshop.

It is difficult to learn by heart all the process of folding one sheet of square paper into a finished rabbit. Practice makes perfect. Yet I found it very interesting to make origami. I want to make other origami models. I again realized that origami must be an attractive paper craft to people all over the world.

* Kanafan Station: This is a room on the 2nd floor of Kanagawa Kenmin Center. It can be used by foreign students studying in Japan and the group members who support them.
** Origami Team in KSGG Introduction to Japanese Culture Group started an origami workshop once a year for about ten years. Senior members of this Origami Team taught origami to their junior members so that they can teach origami to the other KSGG members and foreigners. The technique of origami has been succeeded in the team as just described.

Report by Keiji, KSGG member

KSGG held a Japanese hand-made paper event for the first time in four years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Washi, craftsmanship of Japanese hand-made paper” was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014. It is a world-renowned technique. Japanese hand-made paper is used for restoration of cultural assets because it has high durability and toughness. It is an environment-friendly product and attracts attention from overseas.
Master Tamura instructed the participants. He makes Japanese paper, and teaches how to do it in university classes and overseas.

The Participants experienced making Japanese paper:
1. Strip the bark of a paper mulberry tree,
2. Scrape the outer black bark and remove the scratch,
3. Pound the fibers.
4. Mix Hibiscus Manihot with the bark and pour the solution into a water tank called “Sukibune,”
5. Flatten the solution on the “Sukibune” to arrange the same level of its thickness.

Master Tamura explained the paper-making procedure very well. The participants enjoyed learning it and sometimes sang labor songs*.
They made a postcard size Japanese paper and a Japanese writing paper. I hope they will use their self-made paper.

* When people were making Japanese paper, they used to sing songs in order to inspire themselves.

I took a Polish couple named Ola and her husband living in Sweden around Kamakura. They studied biology at a college, so they love living things and plants. They came to Japan for the first time.
When I met with them at Kamakura station, it stopped raining, which was a good start. We first visited Sugimotodera Temple by bus. Many people got off at the same bus stop, so they wondered if any event was going to be held in the temple. They liked bamboo trees and enjoyed matcha, or powdered green tea in the temple. They asked who made a thousand paper cranes displayed in the main hall, but even a staff of the temple didn’t know that.
They curiously were taking photos of a caterpillar at Genpei pond in Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. As they were happily looking at the photos on our way back to their hotel, I thought the most impressive thing for them might be the caterpillar at this tour!
As they would like Japanese food at lunch, we ate shirasu lunch, local food with small fish. They bought a Japanese hand towel called tenugui* as a souvenir for their family at Komachi Dori Street. At taiyaki** shop, Ola ordered a taiyaki because she could read Japanese.
Then we went to Hasedera Temple by Enoden, Enoshima Electric Railway, we saw beautiful autumn leaves. While overlooking the sea from the observation platform in the temple, they told me that people in Sweden possess their boat. Though drinking alcohol on the boat is OK, whereas drinking in the open air is prohibited.
At Kotoku-in Temple, when Ola was taking a photo of the husband, she happily found a spot where he could look like the same height as the Great Buddha in her photo frame. ***

*Tenugui is a rectangular piece of thin cotton cloth used as hand towel.
**Taiyaki is a Japanese sweet made by baking batter in sea bream shaped molds.
***The Great Buddha is very big, about 13.4 meters tall. However, if you stand at a spot from certain distance of the Great Buddha to take a photo with you, you can look like the same height as the Great Buddha in your photo frame!

I enjoyed taking part in the face-to-face activity of Introduction to Japanese Culture Group for the first time since the monthly meeting of KSGG this July. Origami Workshop started around 1995 to show overseas people Japanese culture. This workshop was held once a year. The members make the Origami animal of the Chinese zodiac year. Chinese zodiac, called “Eto” in Japanese, which represents calendar and time according to twelve different animals. It originated from China and now is mainly used in Asian countries including China and Japan. This year is the year of the tiger. So, we made tiger with Origami.

This workshop was scheduled in the early spring, but has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I have not folded Origami since my childhood, but thanks to the kind guidance of the expert members, I was managed to complete a rather complicated Origami tiger in the end. Yet, I am wondering if I can fold Origami without their help. I feel I should practice folding Origami again and again.
When I have trouble conversing with foreign visitors in the future, I think we can have a good conversation through making Origami cranes, peacock, and so on.I was surely convinced at what the lecturer said: The best way to get good results in folding Origami is to make a neat crease first before proceeding to next folding stage. There are two months left in this year of the tiger. I would like to keep displaying this Origami tiger at home for some time to come.

Date & Time: Thursday, June 23, 10:45 a.m. – 0:25 p.m.
Place: Japanese lecture room at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), KSGG members participate via Zoom from their home
Participants: Seven students in Japanese training courses at Tokyo Tech (one each from Ecuador, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Malaysia, Denmark and Turkey) and three faculty and staff at Tokyo Tech
Attendants: Six KSGG members
Languages: English and Japanese

[In-person tour]

Date & Time: Wednesday, June 29, 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Spots: Kamakura Station, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Enoshima electric railway, Hase Station and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
Participants: 17 students in Japanese training course at Tokyo Tech (two each from India and Brazil, one each from Jordan, Ecuador, Liberia, Bangladesh, Haiti, Malaysia, Denmark, Turkey, Switzerland, the United States of America, the Philippines, Mongolia and Palestine) and three faculty and staff at Tokyo Tech
Attendants: Five KSGG members
Languages: English and Japanese

Report by Yasuo, KSGG

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, KSGG has been holding online tours for overseas students at Tokyo Tech in summer and winter since July 2020. KSGG resumed in-person Kamakura tours, and pre-tour was held online in advance as the first attempt.

On June 23rd, the pre-tour was held via Zoom for one hour and 40 minutes. After the greeting and the self-introductions, I told the story of Tanabata (the star festival) to the students, showed them some illustrations, and sang the Tanabata song, which is popular among children. When I thought over the lyrics carefully, I was deeply moved because I could imagine a night sky with twinkling stars. I gave a brief lecture on Kamakura, shrines and temples using PowerPoint.

After that, the participants were divided into two groups for the pre-tour. I was planning to guide Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and Kotokuin Temple in detail during the in-person tour next week, so I just explained their outline. Instead, I focused on topics such as the relationship between Japanese daily life and shrines, temples, and wide variety of Japanese deities. The students and we KSGG members also exchanged opinions. Although the contents of the talk were limited in only 30-minute pre-tour, we enjoyed interacting with the students by giving lecture and listening to their impressions.

Following the pre-tour, the Kamakura in-person tour was held on Wednesday, June 29th. The participants were divided into 5 groups, each of which was led by a KSGG member. The groups departed on schedule at different times. As the temperature went above 30 degrees Celsius in the morning, staying hydrated was needed. I bought a two-liter plastic bottle of water at a convenience store, and started explaining Wakamiyaoji Street.

Almost all the KSGG members had the real tour for the first time in two and a half years, so I was nervous at first. However, when the tour started, I could guide them smoothly. The participants, who had taken part in the online pre-tour on June 23rd, listened carefully to my explanation and answered the quiz honestly. They were also very interested in the Japanese history and asked difficult questions that I had trouble answering. We hurried through Komachidori Street in order to catch the scheduled Enoden (Enoshima electric railway) train. It was empty and arrived at Hase Station on time.

After the explanations on the Great Buddha in Kotokuin Temple, it was time to take group photos. At the end, the participants said with a smile that they had a lot of fun and their understanding about Kamakura had deepened. Hearing their impressions on the tour, I was refreshed though I was very exhausted due to the intense heat.

Report by Yasuhiro

Online tours can show hospitality regardless of the distance to the participants or the tour spots. On the other hand, it is difficult for the participants to enjoy the tour directly using their five senses on the online tour. The flowers, the theme of the time, was much more difficult to introduce online. Fortunately, in Kamakura, there are religious facilities associated with “flower temples” such as Meigetsuin Temple (Hydrangea), Hokaiji (Japanese bush clover and weeping plum) Zuisenji Temple (Narcissus) and so on.
The KSGG members made story-centered conversation by introducing the temple and typical flowers of each month. They also introduced the language of those flowers. Both the woman and KSGG members unmuted and expressed their opinions freely. The discussion got gradually excited. Additional online discussion was held on 9th in a friendly manner. On the second day, one of the KSGG members explained “Japanese traditional designs of flowers on Kimono” and another member talked about medicinal flowers. The visitor, who is a doctor, asked KSGG to explained about this topic before the tour. Of course, she was deeply impressed by the explanation. This event proceeded exactly in a delightful atmosphere. The online guide for her is still likely to continue.

KSGG held an online Yokohama guided-tour with two Filipino students living in the Philippines using Zoom system. The students had connected to our Zoom system 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. They are friendly from the start. They are young and have so cheerful atmosphere. In advance of this online tour, from Eianna, I have already gotten information about what she wanted to know. They are curious about the life in Yokohama and the cost of travel in Japan. So, I consulted with other members. And I prepared for the introduction to the geography, history, and main tourist spots of Yokohama. I also showed the reasons why Yokohama had been consecutively selected as the No. 1 city to live in Tokyo and its vicinity area, and the admission fees for attractions such as Cup Noodle Museum. I asked some questions to them from time to time so as to make the online tour interactive as much as possible.

When the guides started to talk about ramen, Eianna immediately responded, “I eat ramen in Manila, too.” “It’s Marugame Udon!” Her reply was a little confusing for us because ramen and udon are completely different kind of noodles. So, I asked her more about noodles. Then, she said, “I like both ramen and udon.” Her answer clarified that she actually knew the difference between ramen and udon. Carlos explained he put some tempuras on udon as topping. He was very happy to see the video of “Gundam Factory Yokohama” taken by one of our members and we talked and talked about it. I said to the students, “It costs more than 3,000 yen for a ticket to enter the Gundam Dock Tower. Can you believe it?” They replied “It’s definitely too expensive.”

Finally, we did free conversation for 10 minutes. They said the most popular destinations for Filipinos are Tokyo, Osaka, and Hokkaido since Manila has only “summer season” throughout the year. So, travel around Hokkaido in winter is especially popular because they can experience snowy Japanese winter. I encouraged them to stop by Yokohama, for the city is so close to Tokyo. I also made a small presentation about Kamakura city. The guides promised them they can get our online tour to Kamakura anytime they want.

Going a little over the scheduled time, we finished our tour with exchanging of “Thank you.” and “See you soon.” I really hope we can meet them again, soon. The guides are so glad and satisfied with being able to introduce them not only the tourist spots of Yokohama but also wonderful points of the city.

The on−line tour to Kamakura was smoothly conducted by two KSGG members though one of the guides had never hosted a virtual tour before. The Indian girl is studying the Japanese language and loves Japanese movies. She is a Japanophile and visited Japan many times but not Kamakura yet. She is engaged in the media−related business and has lots of interest in history. Her smile was so lovely. She was informed of the KSGG’s on−line tour by her Japanese friend who lives in Australia. At first the guide was not quite sure if he could conduct it well. He became relaxed as he talked to the visitor on−line. The Indian visitor enjoyed the on−line tour very much, which made him pleased with the sense of achievement.