Hospital Beds -- part of Kamesei's Inbound rite of passage
旅館の業界や一般の新聞でも、外国人の観光客は話題になっています。この間の業界の新聞に｢2020年までに旅館の宿泊者の6人に一人が外国人になる」や地元の新聞で長野のスキー場に日本人スキー客が年々に減って、外国人(特に、オーストラリアから）が年々に増えているとか。
新聞でのイメージだけじゃ、現場で実際に外国人のお客さんを受ける現実が分からない。以前に東京の旅館の先輩と話しました。彼の宿のお客さんの9割以上が外国から。話を聞くと、最近は海外からのお客さんが夜中で病気になって、言葉や習慣の違いがあって、彼がそのお客さんを病院に連れて行って、立会いして、保険の問題があったから結局病院代を立替で払った。
今日、亀清のお客さんでオーストラリアからの方が京都へ移動する予定だったが、調子が悪かったと。隣は薬屋さんなので紹介しました。大井さんは英語(特に医学の専門語）を話せるので。そして、大井さんが出てきて、｢病院に連れて来い｣と。お勧めしてくれた近くの医者さんに連れて行って、結局4時間ぐらい通訳したり立会いしました。クリスマスイブはまさかこのようにすごされると思わなかった。しかし、お客さんはもっと可愛いそうだと思った：せっかくの海外旅行で入院なんて嫌でね。
誤解しないで頂きたいです。この件に関しては一切文句を言っていません。私の東京の先輩も夜中の病人の立会いは別にいやみに思っていなかった。但し、｢インバウンド｣に関して軽く考えている人が沢山いますので注意も必要だという事。インバウンドの世界はデザートだけじゃない。納豆もあるよと。
Ｊａｓｏｎさん、お大事に。
Articles about "Inbound" (attracting travellers from overseas) seem to be all over the papers, both industry rags and local newspapers. One industry newspaper quoted the government's goal of 1 in every 6 ryokan-stayers being "Inbound" by 2020. And the local Nagano paper has been featuring nearby ski resorts suffering from a decline of Japanese skiiers but enjoying an increase in ones from abroad, particulary Australians. However, the Inbound reality isn't always as rosy as the newspapers would have you believe.
Recently I had a talk with an innkeeper in Tokyo whose guests are more than 90% foreigners. He mentioned that he once had to take a guest from overseas who got sick to a hospital in the middle of the night. He helped with the interpretating and even ended up having to pay the bill as the hospital didn't accept credit cards and the traveller's insurance didn't work.
Today, one of our guests from Australia had some serious stomach pain. I sent him over to Oi-san, the pharmacist next door who speaks a bit of English. Oi-san came out and said I need to take the guest to a hospital to get looked at. So I got the car, and rushed the guest to the local clinic that Oi-san suggested. I ended up spending about 4 hours at the hospital helping with the interpreting and the transportation of the guest. It wasn't the way I had anticipated spending Christmas Eve. But we all felt sorry for the guest -- who wants to go to a hospital during a vacation overseas?
Now, don't get me wrong. I am not complaining one bit about the incident. Nor was the Tokyo innkeeper about his ordeal. We are just trying to make all those people who talk optimistically about Inbound that it's not always a piece of cake. One must be ready to eat natto, too.
I hope you're feeling better, Jason.
