Novelty / 新鮮

Be it overseas or in your own country, when travelling to a new town for the first time, everything looks fresh. I have my camera in easy reach so I can take photos of the cityscape or anything that catches my eye. But when I have friends or relatives visit me, I am always have difficulty deciding where to take them, especially when they have limited time. Everyone has an image of what to expect from their travel destination. Visitors from abroad take delight in everything they see in Japan, because everything is new to them. That exhilarating feeling of discovery infects me, too, as I show them around. When there are kids in the group, their curiosity is particularly infectious. I start to see things or customs that I take for granted with different eyes, and I feel like a tourist in my own town.

海外でも国内でも初めて旅行する街では、何でもかんでも新鮮です。カメラを抱えて色々な物や風景をパチパチ撮ってしまいます。でも自分の街へ友人が来る時、どこを案内したらいいか結構悩みます。特に見せたい場所が多過ぎる時。もちろん個人個人は既に街のイメージができているでしょう。海外からのお客さんなら、全て新しくて何でも喜びます。案内しているうちに自分も新たに新鮮さを感じます。普通でもある物や風習は、お客さんの目を通じて全て新鮮に見え、自分の街で観光客になった気分でしょう。好奇心いっぱい持っている子供も案内していましたら。

The Japanese version first appeared in the July 2013 issue of the goodspeed monthly newsletter.
日本語バージョンはグッドスピードレター2013年7月号に掲載されました。