Higashi Nakano
We received the
email from an Indonesian school teacher to ask us whether we conduct virtual
tours for her students last December. Since her elementary school students have
studied from home via video due to the prolonged pandemic, she hoped they could
experience Japanese culture and views virtually.
She found some people who visited Japan
appreciating our KEV on the internet. That’s why she contacted us.
Actually, we had no
experience of virtual tours, so we immediately discussed our possibility for them.
We were also thinking about the need to interact with foreign people because we
couldn’t welcome any inbound tourists for about 2 years since the spring of
2020. Eventually, we decided to launch our first virtual tour and organize the project
team in our association at the end of last year.
The 7 members who love novel things gathered
around and had several meetings both in person and video-meeting to create our
first virtual tour. We made the tour plan where we’d like to tell the students
about Japanese seasonal events and introduce our popular destinations such as Tomioka-Hachimangu
shrine and Sunamachi shopping street. Then, we suggested our plan to Indonesian
teachers and discussed it by email and a zoom meeting. Some of our members went
around to film those destinations. Also, locals and local government staff
cooperated with us about our activities.
We really enjoyed exchanging opinions actively
with members and interacting with the friendly teachers.
And, finally we conducted our virtual tour on
March 11th! The students, ranging
from first graders to sixth graders, were very adorable. We all enjoyed the
tour with several questions like “I like sushi.”, “I like Japanese tea.”, “I
want to eat Tai-yaki. (a fish-shaped pancake)” and so on. They were really
cute!
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| Nakano speaks to students. Other members watching their images |
Through this
experience, we realized that we could talk with each other and make foreign friends
in spite of the pandemic. Thank you for your suggestion for the virtual tour.
Some day after the pandemic, we will welcome you in person in Japan!
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