Tour guide Yoshiharu Tsujimoto talks with a man in Hong Kong via a computer at his home in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture. (Mainichi/Akira Inoh)

       NARA -- Amid a pandemic-driven fall in opportunities to guide foreign visitors, volunteer tour guides based in this western Japan city have taken to international exchange with people overseas via web conferencing software to teach Japanese and more specifically about the culture of Nara.

       People overseas wishing to learn Japanese for reasons including future employment in the country register to the service, and primarily elderly Japanese volunteers take part in it. While elderly people across the country have started joining the service, it has also led to efforts to share the culture of Japan's ancient capital.

       "I was surprised by the huge difference in speaking speed between Osaka and Kyoto. I also visited Nara twice to see deer and cherry blossom," a man in Hong Kong was seen saying in fluent Japanese through a computer screen to Yoshiharu Tsujimoto, 72, when the Mainichi Shimbun visited his home in the Nara Prefecture city of Yamatokoriyama.

       Tsujimoto, a member of the city of Nara-based incorporated non-profit organization "Nara Volunteer Tour Guide, SUZAKU," explained the regional characteristics to him, and their conversation topics spread to local cuisines and the difficulty of the Japanese language. The man studied Japanese because he likes its TV dramas and films, and has visited about 10 times.

       "Polite expressions in Japanese are difficult," he said. "Especially, when celebrities say, 'I will marry' (in respectful language), I don't understand at all who they're paying respect to. Politicians' language is even more difficult." Their 25-minute conversation session ended in smiles.

       Online service "Sail" was launched in 2016 by Helte Co. in Chiba Prefecture. Some 10,000 people in 121 countries, and approximately 6,000 Japanese people, are registered in cooperation with organizations across Japan. Because even elderly people can easily access the service and speak in Japanese, it is also gaining attention from local governments as a preventative measure against pandemic isolation and an initiative for multicultural coexistence. While Japanese members access the service free, individuals overseas or organizations managing technical intern trainees pay.

       In Nara Prefecture, an initiative "Nara Living Lab," launched by bodies including the Nara Municipal Government and general incorporated association Tomosu, began organizing with the program in May. About 30 people including tour guides are participating.

       Tour guide group Nara Volunteer Tour Guide, SUZAKU, was showing 100,000 people around the city of Nara annually, but the figure was only around 2,000 in fiscal 2020. Tsujimoto has also had few work opportunities since spring last year, and said that he tried cultural exchange on Sail in his spare time. Most of the around 30 people he has talked with through the service were technical trainees in countries such as Myanmar, but others included IT engineers in India and China and a Taiwanese travel enthusiast, too.

       "Their passion to learn is great," Tsujimoto said. "It is also meaningful for us in Japan to have opportunities to spread our culture and local attractions."

       Helte's president Manabu Goto hailed the Nara initiative, saying, "In nearly half of conversations nationwide (on Sail), the Japanese side only listens to the callers, but Nara's initiative to spread culture is unique." He added, "Delivering elderly people's wisdom and experience is the business's original purpose, therefore I want to pay attention to it as a new framework."

       (Japanese original by Akira Inoh, Yamato Takada Resident Bureau)

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