Tour Report on 2 September 2017

We thank many guests joining this tour. On that day, we welcomed 35 guests from many countries in the world. It was a good weather. We divided into 5 groups. Although it was still hot but not so humid like August any more. It seems autumn is coming soon. That will be best season for sight seeing.

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So we expect many more people joining the tour. That makes us to strive to improve our guiding skill. Not just English but communication skill. Just being able to speak English is not good enough to be a good guide. We have to be able to communicate well to entertain the guests.

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On the same day after the tour, we held a workshop for us to learn about it inviting a famous English speaking Rakugo entetainer named Mr. Kimochi. Rakugo is traditional Japanese talk entertainment. The format is one-man talk show on the stage. It might look like a stand-up comedy. But in Rakugo, a talker wears kimono and sits down on the stage all the time and he or she talks following a storyline playing various characters like actors. But a story contains a funny joke or humor. The very feature of Rakugo is surprising and funny ending. “Raku” means falling down. “Go” means language. It means the talk has to end with up-side down conclusion. That should induce laugh from audience. It is said that in Japan high income people love to watch the show more frequently than other people because it needs intelligence.

Mr. Kimochi spoke very fluent English but he is not a native speaker of English and spent only 8 days abroad in his lifetime. However, he has already succeeded in entertaining native English speaking audience. He trained English so hard but claimed just translating a script into English accurately is not good enough to make a good English Rakugo script. The entertainer has to understand the cultural background depending on an audience. That is a common issue with us.

Using great techniques he taught us, we will be greater guides than ever. Why not join us and see how we guide and entertain you!