Tour Report: January 9th, 2016

Happy New Year and thank you for joining our first tour of the year!

It has been a relatively warm winter in Tokyo so far, so much that plum trees at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace are beginning to bloom – which we usually expect some time around early February.

I went with a group of six with guests from Germany, Hong Kong and Vietnam. As my partner guide and I explained about historical sites of interest, our conversation wandered off to various topics from seniority systems in different countries to where to fetch dashi soup stocks.

I was surprised when one of our guests told me she intended to visit the Parliamentary Museum, which is not a common tourist destination. Then she explained that she majored in the field, and how the constitution in her country is subject for discussion very much like ours. I found this conversation very interesting, and decided I should revisit how our constitution came to be. Meanwhile I sincerely hope she found her way to the museum, and that the visit was worthwhile.

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My personal resolution for this year is to improve as a volunteer tour guide and provide useful and interesting information – be it souvenirs or academic topics. I also have a secret ambition to start tours in a new language. See you on our next tour, and let’s see how my resolution turns out!

(Report by Yohei)

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