ブックタイトル縁19号

概要

縁19号

per with a map on it and instructions on how to go to the AOTS Tokyo Kenshu Centre with some moneyfor the ticket to get there. The Centre is the accommodation that I spent the next 3 weeks.In the train from the airport to the Centre or what we called TKC, passengers coming on and out and Iwas a bit surprised to see that there were many foreigners on board. From their looks and the language,they spoke to each other, I believed most of them were from the Philippines. And from their appearances, Ibelieved they were non-professional workers. Is Japan finally opening up to foreigners to help the labourforce shortage they are facing? In Malaysia, we have been facing labour force shortage in the non-professionalpositions for as long as I can remember and to put up with the shortage, we have been hiring peoplemostly from Indonesia and Bangladesh.The first week of the program was great. Not so much heavy stuff. On Friday of the first week, we decidedto join a cultural event called Bon Odori at Hibiya Park which is nearby the Japan Patent Office right afterclass. We arrived there early before it starts at 6pm. As much of the world knows, Japanese are knownfor their extreme time keeping and punctuality. As we did not want to miss anything, we started walking toHibiya Park to arrive there as early as possible. When we got there, there was a huge crowd wearing Japanesetraditional attire known as kimono. A bit of information, I was told that there are different types of kimonosworn for different occasions and during different seasons. For this particular event, both Japanesemen and women wore Yukata.With two gorgeous Japanese women in their YukataSee the water fountain behind me? People were dancing the Bon Odori style circling that fountain. Thoseclad in Yukata led the way. The dance started when the drums start rolling and when those clad in Yukatastarted dancing, everybody followed and tried to catch up with their every single move and every singlestep. The stomping drums lightened the mood. There were many stalls around the Hibiya Park selling foodand drink so you didn't have to worry whenever you need that extra energy to keep up with the dance orto quench your thirst. It was hard at the beginning to follow but I caught up and danced from the beginningtill it was over that night. I had a lot of fun there. A lot of people joined this 'party' and I saw foreign tourists12 ENISHI IP Friends Connections August 2018 No.19