A Dutch woman bombarded us with questions for an hour, and a man from England was looking for a shower for some reason. The tourist information center, a "refuge" for foreign tourists, was very busy during the New Year holidays. ■ A family who wants to meet the mysterious "Hegy" Takeshita Street in Harajuku, Tokyo. The "town of young people" is now full of foreign tourists. A tourist from America said, "I love Japan. It's wonderful." The tourist information center is located near Takeshita Street. On busy days, 300 people visit. A total of eight staff members are in charge. On this day, a group of four people came. They said they had a place they wanted to go. Father: "Is it close?" Staff: "About 10 minutes." Father: "Walk?" Mother: "Can you check if we can make a reservation?" Staff: "How many people are there?" Mother: "We're a family of four." The family came from Singapore. Staff: "Sorry, it seems we're full." Father: "It's full." It seems to be a very popular place. Father: "I want to go to a pet cafe. I want to see these animals." "Why do you want to go?" Daughter (11): "Because they're so cute, I want to see them." The information desk staff found another cafe for us. Mother: "The show starts at 3:45pm." There are rare animals there that you don't usually get to see. Father: "My daughter has that stuffed animal. She named it 'Hezzy.'" A cafe where you can meet the model for the stuffed animal 'Hezzy,' which the daughter treasures. I wonder what kind of place it is. Mother: "Try holding him. Gently. Gently, gently." Daughter: "Wow." Yes, this is a cafe where you can interact with hedgehogs. Apparently, the stuffed animal was named 'Hezzy' because hedgehogs are called 'hedgehogs' in English. Mother: "What about the real 'Hezzy'?" Daughter: "The real one is different. It moves a lot." Mother: "Of course it moves." Here, you can interact with not only hedgehogs, but also meerkats and other animals. 30 minutes, one drink included, costs 1,430 yen. Mother: "This is an experience I've never had before. They introduced me to a great place." ■A barrage of questions The fierce Dutch Two women came in the morning, during off-peak hours. It was the beginning of an eventful day. Staff: "Are you looking for something?" Japanese woman: "It seems like there's loads of stuff." A Dutch woman (in her 60s) came with the Japanese woman. I never expected to be bombarded with questions from this point. Dutch woman: "Do you have a map of Japan?" Staff: "We have a map like this." Dutch woman: "We have that. Do you have a map of the whole country?" Staff: "We don't." Dutch woman: "What about a train route map?" Staff: "We have a route map, but it's only for Tokyo." The Dutch woman has been staying in Japan for almost a month. The questions never stop. Dutch woman: "Next question, tell me about tours available in Tokyo." Staff: "There are lots." Dutch woman: "Next question, are there tours of the Imperial Palace?" The staff bombarded her with questions for about an hour. The two have been friends for over 40 years since they met overseas as students. Japanese woman: "I thought I knew everything (about Japan), so I just came here. I understand Japanese, but I don't understand Tokyo, at all. It's such a big city." The woman lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, so she is unfamiliar with Tokyo. That's why she came to the tourist information center to ask for help. Dutch woman: "Thank you." After that, the two headed to a sightseeing bus introduced by the staff at the information center. It was a short tour that would take them around each place efficiently. Dutch woman: "The tourist information center was very helpful. They looked up all kinds of information for us. They went to great lengths to help us out, and it really helped us out." ■Man looking for a shower Why? Now we move on to Shinjuku. There is also a tourist information center just outside the southeast exit of JR Shinjuku Station. On busy days, it is an extremely busy center, with 900 people visiting. On this day, a man who seemed a little depressed visited. British man: "I just need a shower." Staff: "There is a place called an Internet cafe. You can just take a shower." British man: "Perfect." Why is he looking for a shower? Interpreter: "I'm doing an interview at this tourist information center." British man: "Oh my goodness, I look awful right now. I haven't been able to take a shower." Nevertheless, the British man was happy to be interviewed. British man: "Actually, I left Kyushu at 9pm yesterday, and after taking a bus and a train, I finally arrived in Tokyo." The man said that he had traveled all night from Kyushu. However... British man: "When I went to the hotel, they said that they couldn't use the showers until 5pm today due to maintenance. But I have a lot of things I want to do in Tokyo. But if I look like this, I don't want to go anywhere." It seems that the man cannot waste even a second of time. Man from England: "Thank you. Have a nice day." He said he'll go shopping after taking a shower. ■ Couple looking for compression bags Unexpected reason The next foreigner who came was looking for something unusual. Woman: "I'm looking for compression bags." Staff: "Okay." A couple from New Zealand who were looking for compression bags. Staff: "They're sold at Seria (100 yen shop)." "You can find compression bags at 100 yen shops, and there's also a shop called Hands, which sells similar products." Why compression bags? There was a clue inside the bag. Man: "We've won a lot of prizes from playing crane games, so we want to compress them." The couple is addicted to crane games, and has spent nearly 10,000 yen on them. They were looking for compression bags because they wanted to do something about the bulky stuffed animals that were among the prizes. Interpreter: "How often do you play crane games?" Woman: "We play every night." Man: "No, not just at night. It's no joke." ■ Problems with luggage disappearing from lockers A small "problem" occurred on this day. A man from Canada: "I put my luggage in a coin locker, but all I got was this paper." A man from Canada claims his luggage has gone missing. He said he put it in a coin locker near the information desk, and it suddenly disappeared. Staff: "What's inside?" Man from Canada: "One suitcase." Staff: "What color?" Man from Canada: "Black." Staff: "Apparently it's a black suitcase." When we checked with the management office... Staff: "The person in charge will be coming, so please wait here." Man from Canada: "Thank you." In fact, there was a reason why his luggage disappeared from the coin locker. Man from Canada: "I didn't know that you could only leave your luggage for up to three days." When we asked, it turned out that the man had left his luggage in the coin locker and traveled to the Kansai area for nine days. He was relieved to find out that the management office had retrieved it. Man from Canada: "HAPPY. I'm glad I didn't have to go far to get it." ■Gifts for sons looking for all over the world 2024 has arrived. Since the beginning of the year, foreigners have been coming one after another. As soon as they come in, there is a man looking for something. American man: "I'm looking for postcards that I can write on, where can I find them?" Staff: "Something that is typical of Japan?" American man: "Something that shows Tokyo or Japan would be good." The man looking for postcards is an American man. American man: "I'm looking for postcards for my sons. I work for an airline, and I buy postcards from the countries I visit and write messages on them." He is a father of two who travels around the world as a flight attendant. He writes messages on postcards from all over the world and gives them to his sons when they grow up. American man: "Something like, 'I'm starting to walk.' They can look back on it." The man was saddened by the plane accident that occurred at the beginning of the year. American man: "Two planes collided, right? It's so sad. We train to evacuate passengers within 90 seconds. All we can do is train every day to save lives." After this, the man bought a postcard. I wonder what kind of message he wrote for his children. The tourist information center is likely to be busy again this year. [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp