[Date and Time] Sunday, October 31, at 10:00~15:45
[Spots] Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitors] 29 AOTS trainees from 3 countries, with 16 from Thailand, 8 from Indonesia, and 5 from China
[Trainees’ occupations] Automobile-related Products manufacture, Optical Lens manufacture, Musical Instruments manufacture, Metallic Casts manufacture, etc.
[Attendants] 15 KSGG members and 1 observer
[Languages] English, Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, and Japanese
All the trainees looked quite satisfied by such autumnal Japanese scenes and manners as children in shichi-go-san or three-five-seven festival costumes, a chrysanthemum show, and wedding ceremonies. Also, at every chozuya or a washbasin, they were all polite enough to purify their hands and mouths with water as they had been told to. I wondered if they had felt the cleanliness of Japanese water. The lookout of Hasedera Temple commands a fine view of Kamakura. We saw a lot of Buddhist pilgrims and foreigners there. The Great Buddha sitting in a dignified manner with the natural beauty of Kamakura gives us a true feeling of peace and security. At the end of the tour, the attendants who had made friends with the visitors as usual, also had a very good time guiding them.
* Conversations with Trainees from China and Thailand:
I met the trainees at Shin-Sugita Station and had a good time talking with one of them on the train to Kamakura. She was from Shanghai and it was her fourth trip to Japan. She now attends a free talk Japanese class at YKC. As all Japanese teachers there are volunteers and many of them work there for a long time, she seemed to have had an interest in volunteer activities in Japan, asking me a lot of questions, such as the volunteer percentage of Japan and the place they have to visit to find those jobs, and added, “Since, in China, most retirees only care for their grandchildren at home, I was surprised at the difference from Japanese volunteers, which aroused my interest. I am thinking of making a report of Japanese volunteers at the end of this training.”
In Kamakura, I guided six trainees from Thailand with 2 other KSGG members. At Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple, they washed their hands and mouths with water as they had been told to before praying. I wondered if they had prayed to complete their training in Japan without any problem. Anyway, I was happy I could have a pleasant day with the trainees full of pep without being caught by the wind and the rain.
[Spots] Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitors] 29 AOTS trainees from 3 countries, with 16 from Thailand, 8 from Indonesia, and 5 from China
[Trainees’ occupations] Automobile-related Products manufacture, Optical Lens manufacture, Musical Instruments manufacture, Metallic Casts manufacture, etc.
[Attendants] 15 KSGG members and 1 observer
[Languages] English, Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, and Japanese
All the trainees looked quite satisfied by such autumnal Japanese scenes and manners as children in shichi-go-san or three-five-seven festival costumes, a chrysanthemum show, and wedding ceremonies. Also, at every chozuya or a washbasin, they were all polite enough to purify their hands and mouths with water as they had been told to. I wondered if they had felt the cleanliness of Japanese water. The lookout of Hasedera Temple commands a fine view of Kamakura. We saw a lot of Buddhist pilgrims and foreigners there. The Great Buddha sitting in a dignified manner with the natural beauty of Kamakura gives us a true feeling of peace and security. At the end of the tour, the attendants who had made friends with the visitors as usual, also had a very good time guiding them.
* Conversations with Trainees from China and Thailand:
I met the trainees at Shin-Sugita Station and had a good time talking with one of them on the train to Kamakura. She was from Shanghai and it was her fourth trip to Japan. She now attends a free talk Japanese class at YKC. As all Japanese teachers there are volunteers and many of them work there for a long time, she seemed to have had an interest in volunteer activities in Japan, asking me a lot of questions, such as the volunteer percentage of Japan and the place they have to visit to find those jobs, and added, “Since, in China, most retirees only care for their grandchildren at home, I was surprised at the difference from Japanese volunteers, which aroused my interest. I am thinking of making a report of Japanese volunteers at the end of this training.”
In Kamakura, I guided six trainees from Thailand with 2 other KSGG members. At Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple, they washed their hands and mouths with water as they had been told to before praying. I wondered if they had prayed to complete their training in Japan without any problem. Anyway, I was happy I could have a pleasant day with the trainees full of pep without being caught by the wind and the rain.