[Date & Time］Sunday, February 12, at 11:00～16:40[Spots］Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple
(Great Buddha)
[Visitors］47 JICA participants from 19 countries, with 13 from Myanmar, 5 from
Tadjikistan, 3 each from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Chile, 2 each from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Syria, Kazakstan ,and Uzbekistan, 1 each from
Iraq, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Bolivia, Moldova, Morocco, and Laos.
[Attendants］24 KSGG members and 2 Observers
My group consisted of 6 participants from Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, and Tadjikistan. I was explaining about such things as Japanese shrines and temples on the way to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. A participant from Tadjikistan wrote his wish on ema (a votive wooden tablet painted with a picture of a horse) in Tajik there. Omikuji (oracle) was popular among the participants of my group. Most of them drew an oracle respectively and were pleased to see excellent luck or good luck written on it. In front of offered sakadaru (sake barrels) exhibited in the precincts, I explained that Japanese sake tastes better than vodka because the former is milder than the latter. Therefore some of the participants bought bottles of Japanese sake in a sake shop on their way to a restaurant for lunch. I realized this kind of explanation is also useful for foreign visitors to understand Japan. At Hasedera Temple, Muslim female participants seriously listened to the explanations about the Amida Buddha against evils and unlucky ages.