A very unique tour on the 15th April, 2018

Today’s tour was a very unique one because I did not have to explain about things nor to speak English. 

The guests were from a TV production company in Holland who came to Mt. Takao to make a documentary with the theme of “Japanese love of nature”.

They had contacted us wanting to hike the mountain with our elderly member(s) to interview them on the way.

The guests of 6 consisted of a lady Director, a male interviewer, a cameraman, all from Holland, a Dutch and an American gentlemen, who are residents in Japan and helped the Dutch crew to make various arrangements here and a Japanese lady who was a friend of the crew and to be interviewed as one of hikers. 

I felt relaxed when we were told to speak Japanese and no English. Actually I found that the interviewer (once lived in Saitama, Japan) and the two Japanese residents speak fluent Japanese. 

We met them at the Takaosanguchi station around 9:30 and after discussing the day’s plan, we decided to take the cable car up, then going to the top via Trail no.1 and going down via Trail no.4 and no.1, coming back at the Kiyotaki Station at the foot of the mountain by the chair lift. 

Before we set out, they fixed me (and the Japanese lady) with a microphone and a recorder

I was a bit nervous about the interview because I had been told that they were interested in the cultural/social background of our love of nature and I didn’t know how to answer but once interview started, I did not feel that I was being interviewed and instead, found myself enjoying the conversation with a new friend. 

I had totally forgotten about the microphone and the recorder and hope I didn’t mention anything inappropriate.

The interviewer was a handsome young man as tall as 186cm. Dutch people are known to be tall and according to him, the average height of Dutch male is 183cm and that of female is 174-5 cm. I asked him what kind of food makes Dutch people so tall, then he said maybe kale was the answer. I should have known that much earlier!

Though we were worried about the weather, the tour went well as scheduled without rain. 

After lunch at the noodle restaurant at the top, we started going down to the chairlift station 

I must mention that Mark, the Cameraman did his hard job very well, running ahead of us all the time, carrying heavy equipment. Thank you and well done, Mark!

According to them, they will edit the shooting this time to 15minutes program and hopefully sell it to Dutch National TV.

So broadcasting the program on National TV has not yet been guaranteed, but seeing and joining their effort here today, I really hope they will be successful.

Thank you, all of you. It was a great and enjoyable experience for me and thank you for the delicious waffle you gave me as a souvenir from Holland. 

Written by Nori