Hello, dear reader. Chances are high that you are currently a resident of Sendai. It is a beautiful city, isn’t it, full of fascinating places, interesting people and a healthy amount of green to go along with it. Perhaps you have recently asked yourself how you can learn more about this beautiful city? Maybe you want to start something new or make use of your language skills? Maybe you even want to carry the magic of Sendai out to visitors or those who are not yet aware of this amazing place. If any of these points apply to you, we have something that might be of interest to you.

The Sendai Tourist Information Desk has revamped its Guest Relations Program to enter the next round of volunteer tour guide staff education. Participants of this course will get the chance to use the Sendai Tourist Information Desk as a platform to guide visitors through the city and enrich their experience as well as the interaction with locals.

This time, the program is condensed down into five sessions, four of which will be given by Tomoyuki Watanabe, who is an experienced guide himself and currently works as an event planner and stadium DJ. He will give valuable insights into the history of central Sendai’s history as well as the development of the most prominent shopping streets; this part is split over three lectures that start in early September (find the dates below). Each lecture is two hours long and will be held on the second floor of the International Center and a conference room in the arcade. Once he is done with this series of history lessons, Watanabe will take a little break.

The first, history-laden part of the Sendai Guest Relations Programm will be followed by a talk session, where multiple foreigners living in Sendai share their experience living in the city of trees. The talk session will also be two hours long and held in Japanese. Afterwards, participants will get to interact with the speakers through a small exchange meeting.

For the big finale, Watanabe will return to take participants on a two-hour model tour through the shopping streets of Sendai. The date for this part is not yet set in stone, but the organisers are aiming for the weekend or a holiday in late October.

In case you happen to be interested, please go through the following checklist before registering. These five points are essential for participation:

1. You enjoy living in Sendai and are interested in promoting the city through tourism.
2. You are interested in international exchange and volunteer activities.
3. You can communicate freely with other people.
4. You have no problem walking for long periods of time (around 2 hours)
5. Next to Japanese, you are able to speak another language (English, Chinese, Korean etc.).

The following two points would be the icing on the cake:

1. You are skilled in cultural activities such as the tea ceremony or dressing somebody else in a kimono.
2. You know the basics of Sendai’s history and geography.

The program will be carried out on the following dates:

September 9^th (Wed), 18:30 – 20:30 @ International Center

Orientation – History of Sendai, Shopping Streets of Sendai, A Guide’s Motivation

September 27^th (Wed), 18:30 – 20:30 @ International Center

Basics #1 About the Shopping Streets of Central Sendai (Asaichi Market, Hapina Nakakecho, Clis Road, Marble Road Omachi)

October 11^th (Wed), 18:30 – 20:30 @ Marubo Sansho Conference Room

Basics #2 About the Shopping Streets of Central Sendai (Honcho, Sun Mall Ichibancho, Vlandome Ichibancho, Ichibancho Yonchome)

October 21^st (Wed), 18:30 – 20:30 @ International Center

Talk Session given by multiple foreigners living in Sendai

October (date TBA)

Walking Tour through Sendai given by Tomoyuki Watanabe (roughly two hours)

If you are interested in participating, please create a Word or PDF file with the following contents and send it to support@i-sendai.jp

1. Name
2. Address
3.  Telephone Number
4. eMail Address
5. Age
6. Occupation (students, please include institution name)
7. A short self-introduction
8. How did you learn about this program?

Participation is 5,000 yen for students and 8,000 yen for everybody. If you are a student, please include a scan or picture of your student ID in the email. The registration deadline is August 25^th. We hope to be seeing you there – let’s promote Sendai!