TID Travel Journal "Fam Trip to TAKARAZUKA"   By TID, Winter 2006 update

In mid-September the m/v Explorer (24,318 tons) entered into the port of Kobe. On September 16 their last day in Kobe, the Kobe City Government and Hyogo Prefecture International Tourism Promotion Committee invited the students from the University of Pittsburg's Semester at Sea program to tour the cities of Kobe and Takarazuka.

They devided into three groups (two for Kobe, one for Takarazuka). Groups of ten or so students on board the ship participated in a tour of Takarazuka. I went with the group of students visiting Takazazuka with more than ten volunteer guides.

First we visited the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum. Osamu Tezuka is called the god of manga. The building itself is not so big but the exhibits and movies shown inside are worth seeing.

On the first floor Tezuka's works are exhibited in glass capsules. There is a mini-theater and you can watch the picture works of Makoto Tezuka, one of Osamu Tezuka's sons. At the ground floor there is a workshop where you can experience the animation process of a cartoon. Many visitors produce various kinds of works there. In the building there is also manga corner and a tea room.

Until Tuesday, February 20 a special exhitit called "Dororo Exhibition" in commemoration of the release of the movie "Dororo" was held.
Then we moved to Hotel Wakamizu for lunch. We tried fancy Japanese foods at a great hall. Participants took commemorative pictures with waitresses wearing kimonos.

In the afternoon we proceeded to the Kiyoshikojin Seicho-ji Temple. The visitors from the U. S. were fascinated with Japanese goods found around the entrance path to the temple. They bought second-hand kimonos, bags, etc. At the Kiyoshikojin Temple the chief priest showed us around the temple and explained many things of it. At the opinion exchange meeting many technical terms from Buddhism were used and I imagine the volunteer guide had to rack her brains to translate the words. This tour was very successful thanks to her interpreting ability. She gave full play to her ability to interpret an address from Mayor of Takarazuka and the explanations at the other facilities we visited.

It was a nice chance for the participants to the m/ v Explorer to interact directly with Japanese people.

Information about the sites we visited are as follows.

[The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum]

[Kiyoshikojin Seicho-ji Temple]