Date & Time: Friday, September 21, 10:00a.m. −4:00 p.m.
Spots: Hokokuji Temple, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Kotoku −in Temple and Hasedera Temple
Visitors: A family of 4 Indians and 2 Australians
Attendants: 2 KSGG members
Language: English
Although the original plan was to guide 7 people, we only guided 6 visitors: 5 adults and a four-year-old girl, Annika. It was raining all day and chilly in the morning. A seventy eight- year-old grandpa, Mr.Krishnan changed his mind and took a rest at a hotel all day, saying it’s raining and chilly, and also he was tired. I had been very careful in choosing a restaurant for lunch as all of the family members are vegetarians. I asked them about what sort of food they like for lunch by e-mail several times beforehand because there are several types of vegetarians. I found a perfect vegetarian restaurant and made a reservation. When we had lunch there, one of the visitors said that the noodles he ordered tasted like egg. I told the restaurant staff about it and was relieved to hear that they had used no eggs at all. As it was my first time guiding international visitors, I had made thorough preparations for the tour. They listened to my explanations carefully in the rain, which made me feel relieved. What they got most excited about for the day may have been the fortune telling slips they drew at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. I was worried whether the four-year-old girl, Annika, might have got bored and grizzled during the full day tour but she was quite all right, enjoying herself. When we watched carp in the pond at Hasedera Temple, I told her that the name of the fish is koi in Japanese and that she could surely call them in Japanese. So she repeated “koi, koi, koi “, dancing pleasantly. She was really cute. I saw them off at Fujisawa Station and ended the pleasant tour with the vegetarian family even in the rain.
