Japanese volunteers sweat at Shanghai Expo
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Shuuichi Hibino, 48, a volunteer working in Shanghai World Expo, worried if the guidance he gave to visitors was confusing.
"Was I wrong? Some visitors seemed puzzled," Hibino asks a Chinese volunteer near him. He is glad to learn that the visitors were only puzzling about his accent, wondering which part of China he came from.
Many thought Hibino came from Hong Kong although he wears a badge on the chest saying "I'm a Japanese volunteer." Hibino and about 30 other Japanese volunteers have been helping out at the Expo Park for about a week. Another group of some 45 volunteers are due to arrive soon.
Sweat runs down the cheeks of Shinobu Ichikawa, 21, a Japanese college student from Aichi University, as she guides visitors under an umbrella outside the Japan Industrial Pavilion Tuesday afternoon. Unlike Hibino who had learned Chinese for five years, Ichikawa barely understands a Chinese sentence.
She listens for key words in visitors' questions and gives very concise answers aided with gestures. "Korea? That bus, one station," with several Chinese words, she shows a visitor the way to the Korea Industrial Pavilion.
Futakami Atsushi, 38, leader of the Japanese volunteers, calls himself an Expo maniac. He has visited or worked as volunteer in eight expositions regulated by the Bureau of International Expositions, including World Expos in Hanover, Aichi, and Shanghai.
In the past, when Atsushi returned from an exposition, his parents would tell him, "It's nothing compared to the Osaka World Expo."
Hearing many stories about the event, previously the largest expo, Atsushi was sad that he wasn't even born when it was held, but his participation in the Shanghai Expo has brought some relief. "Finally, I can return and tell my parents that I have been to the greatest Expo in history."
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