TOKYO — At the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center in the Japanese capital’s Asakusa district, across from the tourist magnet that is the iconic Kaminarimon gate, volunteer guides from the group Tokyo SGG Club are an integral part of helping foreign visitors find their way. Among those taking turns at the information desk is one with many years of stories to tell about Tokyo: 96-year-old Takako Ishii, who survived the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 1945.
Full of energy
“My English is a bit clumsy, but when someone says they want to go to Tokyo Skytree, I step outside and show them the way with gestures, saying, ‘Go straight.’ It’s faster that way,” Ishii says with a smile.
Ishii volunteers two to three times a month. Each shift is three to four hours long with breaks, but she describes herself as “full of energy” and says, “I can stand all day.” In fact, her fellow volunteers have even asked her to take breaks so they wouldn’t feel guilty for resting themselves.
When asked about the secret to her good health, she attributes it to “coming here, standing, and feeling like I’m useful to others.”
Surviving World War II and learning English on her own
Ishii grew up in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward. During World War II, she didn’t have the chance to learn English, the “enemy’s language.”
Then came the Great Tokyo Air Raid, which claimed the lives of some 100,000 people in Japan’s capital. Ishii’s family was not among them. She and her parents fled the intense fires and found refuge at a friend’s house, narrowly escaping death. Many people in the area near the Kyu-nakagawa River where she lived drowned trying to escape into the water.
“I heard those who fled to the river perished. My parents saved my life,” she recalls.
Their wooden single-story home was destroyed in the raid, and afterward, she moved to Asakusa, where her relatives lived.
After the war, she married and divorced, raising her eldest daughter with the help of her parents. She became a floral designer, crafting bouquets from artificial flowers. Her work took her to the U.S. and other countries, and she also traveled abroad on her own on vacations. “That’s what I really looked forward to,” she says fondly.
Among the stamps in Ishii’s passport are those from Finland, France, Australia and Tanzania. With a desire to speak English when traveling abroad, she continued to study the language on her own while in Japan.
Learning ‘living English’ from tourists
Around the age of 60, while studying in the library as usual, a stranger approached her and introduced himself as a doctor.
“Studying in a place like this won’t help you,” he said, and took her to the previous Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center building. Ishii then went on to join the Tokyo SGG Club volunteer group. “At first, I didn’t know much,” she recalls, but her experiences abroad gave her the drive to continue.
She had often been helped by locals during her travels, such as when she was lost and guided back to her hotel. “I can’t begin to express how much I was helped. Now, I want to do what I can for others in Japan,” she says.
She continued to study on her own and picked up “living English” through interactions with foreign tourists during her volunteer work.
Fellow volunteers often say, “Let’s aim to be like Ms. Ishii.” Still energetic, Ishii herself is determined to continue volunteering “until I’m 100.”
Guided tours of famous spots
The “Goodwill Guide” movement, which encourages helping foreign tourists, was first proposed during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. SGG, which stands for “systematized goodwill guides,” is a volunteer organization working within this movement, with about 90 groups across Japan, including in Tokyo. In fiscal 2023, the Tokyo SGG Club had 173 members. They operate in six locations in Tokyo, including Asakusa, Ueno and Tsukiji, and in fiscal 2023, they guided around 75,000 foreign visitors.
Members not only assist with tourist inquiries at information counters, but they also offer tours of famous Tokyo spots like Senso-ji temple, Ueno Park, the Yanaka district and the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. These tours are limited to about 10 participants per session, with spots filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Volunteer guides have room for creativity
Tadashi Ito, the 73-year-old chairman of the Tokyo SGG Club, joined the group at age 57 after retiring from his sales job at a food company. He had always loved English, and learned about the club through a newspaper article.
There are paid guided tours for foreign visitors, but many of these follow a strict script. In contrast, the volunteer tours give members plenty of room for creativity.
Asakusa is home to many long-established businesses, but new shops and products are constantly appearing, so gathering information is essential.
“I enjoy preparing talking points for the day. When I explain something I think foreign visitors will find interesting, there’s a moment when their eyes light up, and I know they’ve understood,” Ito says.
However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the group to suspend activities from March 2020 for two years. The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, originally scheduled for 2020, were also postponed to 2021, and the group couldn’t welcome as many foreign visitors as they had hoped.
Now that the Japanese government has downgraded COVID-19 to the same category as seasonal flu, inbound tourism has picked up again, aided by the weak yen.
Ito says, “In addition to improving my English skills, I want to emphasize hospitality, ensuring that our overseas guests have an enjoyable experience.”
(Japanese original by Eri Misono, Digital News Group)
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