Date & Time: Sunday, October 17, 2:00 p.m.−3:00 p.m.
Spot: Highlight of Yokohama online tour using Zoom
Participants: Two students, Eianna and Carlos from the Philippines
Guides: Hitoshi, Shigeru, and Miyako, KSGG members
Language: English
Report by Hitoshi
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.
