[Date & Time] Thursday, December 31, 09:00～17:00
[Spots] Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha), Hasedera Temple, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, and Komachi Dori Street
[Visitors] A Jewish-American newly-married couple (both 28 years old), NYC residents
[Attendant] 1 KSGG member
[Language] English
The visitors are a young couple who got married in October, 2015. I am pleased that they decided to visit Japan and the Philippines for their 2-week honeymoon. They temporarily lodged at a private house in Shibuya (It might be “Min-Paku” or renting a private house). It was an independent tour, having checked beforehand and cutting down. They visited Japan for the first time. Yet they had full of vitality and energy to do anything including transportation, even though they might make mistakes.
Taking the congestion of New Year’s Eve into consideration and following our member's advice, we first visited Kotokuin Temple and Hasedera Temple by Enoden. This was a good decision. We had enough time to walk around at leisure. The visitors were astonished at the greatness and solemnity of them. In the precincts of Hasedera Temple, they were especially impressed with the well-balanced composition of Karesansui (dry landscape Buddhist garden).
In Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, though they are Jewish, they tried purifying their hands at temizuya (the water purification basin) and paying Shintoism respect in front of the main sanctuary. At lunch time, we relished hand-made wheat noodles at a restaurant named Miyoshi, which they researched in advance.
On Komachi Dori Street, they seemed very glad to buy a warm and cute cap against coldness. Although my knowledge and experience of guiding is not good enough, I believe I managed to complete my mission without trouble.