[Date and Time] Monday, March 22, at 10:00 ~ 17:20
[Place] Sugimotodera Temple, Hokokuji Temple, Zyomyoji Temple, Wakamiya Oji, Komachi Street, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitors] Chinese Thai parents and their 2 Australian sisters
[Attendant] 1 KSGG member
[Language] English, Chinese, and Japanese (via website)
Blessed with perfect weather, we smoothly arrived at Sugimotodera Temple. I explained that the temple is a very old one and is of esoteric Buddhism. Then we visited popular Hokokuji Temple. As the visitors were interested in bamboo, I talked about its difference from the bamboo grove in Kyoto. Also, as it was the vernal equinoctial week, I took them to graves. A younger sister who liked Japanese history asked some questions: Why did the Shogun disappear? What did the Emperor do in his life? What was the Nara period like? At Hasedera Temple, which was crowded with visitors, we found it hard to buy its admission tickets. Since my guests looked tired, I made my explanation short to go to Kotokuin Temple. It was impressive for me to see their mother listening to me enthusiastically at Kotokuin Temple. I learned through my tour of guiding personal visitors for the first time that I should have a variety of topics for such visitors, because their interests are quite different.