Date & Time] Sunday, Nov. 23, at 10:00~15:30
[Spots] Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu Shrine and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitors] 81 Trainees from 7 Countries, with 32 from China, 19 from Vietnam, 12 from Thailand, 10 from the Philippines, 5 from India, 2 from Malaysia, and 1 from Pakistan
[KSGG Attendants] 20 members and 4 observers
[Language] English
The tour made an early start, but as it was one of the 3 consecutive holidays, the Shrine had been very crowded with visitors for the Festival Day for Children 7, 5 and 3, and the Harvest Festival. We found it hard to group the trainees who were likely to get lost easily, while they were happy to take pictures of children and parents in their best. I am sure they had a good time, for, in a month after their arrival in Japan, they could see the happy children, eat Japanese soba noodles for lunch, a bowl of rice topped with ingredients, and dengaku, or bean curd baked and coated with miso. The trainees, who will receive on-the-job training of their specialities such as automobile, computer software, information system, architecture, meters, and so on for the next 6 months in Japan, are very greedy for anything to gain knowledge. They spoke to us incessantly in the hope of improving their Japanese ability. In the afternoon, we were kept waiting on Enoden’s platform for forty minutes and, in the end, heard a loudspeaker announce that they were unable to tell us when the next train could be available. We decided to head straight for Kotokuin on foot by skipping Hasedera Temple. We were able to relax ourselves around the Great Buddha. A lot of Japanese paper dolls made by many KSGG members were given to the trainees there as a present from KSGG.