Nine international students from Thailand and Malaysia and their accompanying staff members came to Mt. Takao despite the chilly weather with light drizzle.
They are the students participating in the International Science Exchange Program for Youth (Sakura Science Program) at J. F. Oberlin University. Their objective today is to think about the balance between environmental conservation and economic development through hiking on Mt. Takao.
For several days, we, TENGU guide members, had
been preparing for the tour. We ourselves learned what “Sustainable Tourism” is.
And we discussed to select important guiding points for the students to think
about this theme.
Mt. Takao had been severely damaged in the past
by trash discarded by climbers. Local community had worked together to pick up
trash scattered over the mountain and created a system to prevent this problem from
happening again in the future. The stone statue called "Osoji-Kozo,” a.k.a.
“Sweeper boy” is the symbol of this activity.
The students listened with great interest to
the history of vegetation changing due to global warming, mountain worship,
Shintoism and Buddhism, and the myths that have been handed down in Mt. Takao
for centuries. We are happy if the students got some clues to think about
sustainable tourism.
At the Gongen Tea House on the way, everyone
bought sesame Mochi dumplings, a specialty of Mt. Takao. Everyone seemed to
enjoy eating it.
All of the guests today said they love Japan.
They like Japanese animation, Japanese actors, Japanese food and so on. Some
said they would like to come back to Japan for a longer period of time next opportunity.
And at the end of the tour, everyone had a smile on their face. They seemed to
have fully enjoyed today's tour.
