Monday, October 19, 2009

Guiding an American--Walking 20,000 steps!


[Date and Time] Monday, October 19, at 10:30~16:00
[Spots] Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Daibutsu (Great Buddha) Hiking Course via Jufukuji Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitor] 1 American man
[Attendant] 1 KSGG member
[Language] English

It was his second visit to Japan; the visitor has been in Yokohama before as an exchange student. For some personal reason, we met at 12:30, two hours behind schedule, at Kamakura Station. We started our tour at once, so we failed to have lunch. While absorbing ourselves in talking, we arrived at Kotokuin through the “Daibutsu Hiking Course.” The visitor, who was still young, looked tired. We had walked on about 20,000 steps without lunch and rest! We should have had lunch and taken a rest, even though we had cut our tour by half. I regretted having kept him walking without lunch and rest. But I was relieved when I saw him cheerfully waving me good-by out the window of the train at Kamakura Station.