201811081A bus tour for foreigners was implemented, which was designed to guide them to sightseeing spots to our neighboring places. (No.18-14)
Date & Time : November 8th 8:15(assembling time) ~ 17:00 (all-over time)
Destination: Hitachi Seaside Park & Nakaminato Fish Market
Participants:35 persons, including 9 Chinese, 2 Vietnamese, 1 each of Korean, Taiwanese, Uzbek
 
In a beautiful weather, all participants gathered at the north exit of Abiko station at 8:15 and the tour bus left at 8:30 as scheduled.
This bus tour is organized and conducted jointly by AIRA’s two sections( “Cultural Lecture for Foreigners” and Cross–Cultural Activities) every year. The participants were from many countries as mentioned the above, including  2 college students.
The participants made self-introduction one after another during the trip to the destination.Those studying in Japanese Language class made a good self-introduction in Japanese. A reservation for lunch was supposed to be made at an Italian restaurant in advance and the tour members were expected to order their lunch on bus. It took time for them to make a choice in a variety of menu because they tried to identify unfamiliar cuisines written in katakana, by finding the pictures on their smart phones.
Hitachi Seaside Park, the first destination, is well-known for the beautiful red kokia in autumn.The tour group unfortunately found a notice at the entrance written that ”the red kokia was cropped on November 4th”. It was really a pity that they couldn’t  enjoy the red plant, even though they knew it in advance. However, they could see beautiful flowers like cosmos, golden cosmos, roses, and ajania in full bloom. Entering the park, the tour members divided into small groups rambled along the large park, enjoyed the beautiful flowers, and had a coffee break under the blue sky. At a view spot called “miharashi-no-oka, they could see the Pacific Ocean, other groups taking a walk with walking sticks, and a Chinese tour group. They strolled around very comfortably.
The lunch was served at a restaurant,“Trattoria”J Marina, in the Oharai Marina.In spite of having ordered their lunch on bus, they didn’t remember exactly what they had ordered.“First serve first eat”, so some members ate the different dish from the one they had ordered. The bountiful dishes were all delicious and salad, desert, and coffee were also served. Curry with mussel was also good. Some members brought the left-over food back with them.
After lunch, the group visited the Nakaminato Fish Market. Hunting for fresh seafood for dinner, they walked around in the market. Therefore the trunk of the bus was full of the containers packed with the seafood.
The enjoyable tour was over around dusk when the bus arrived at the same place at 17:00 as scheduled.
(Translated by Ms.Hitomi Koyama)
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