Have you heard of ‘Doraemon’? This is one of the most famous comics in Japan written by Fujikofujio. The story is about a gadget cat that comes from the future to help a clumsy but lovable Japanese boy, ‘Nobita’, solve problems in his life with a sorts of secret gadgets out of the “4D(Fourth Dimensional)Pocket “ on his tummy.
When I first knew about the useful function on Google map – sharing the information about “barrier free “- , I thought it seemed like the useful gadgets from future that Doraemon gave Nobita. It is fantastic that people can use Google map for free!
Do you know “Anywhere door “? It is one of the secret gadgets of Doraemon. If you use “Anywhere door”, you can go wherever you want. Just open the door! If you use Google map, you can find quickly the place where you want and you can go there.
In my city, barrier free maps are made to show the location of lavatories for wheelchairs and access to the entrance. It is made by the local welfare section and volunteers.
But this map is only about my city , so it is difficult to be known by many people. And it is difficult to update new restaurants and facilities.
As local welfare sections can only offer information about welfare matter , ‘atmosphere ‘ reviews’ are not written in the map.
Therefore, people have to check the information in detail by internet after using this barrier free map.
On google map we can see not only the location but also other information at once ; it is a fantastic function. I am surprised to know that local guides volunteer to write information on google map as a volunteer .
At fist I had thought if there were people who would share information for free, and that some information could be fake. Of course there are some meaningless comments on Google map , but mostly many comments are efficient. So a lot of people use Google map and get information from it.
In my city there is one of the oldest hot springs in Japan, ‘Dogo Onsen’, and some temples of Shikoku 88 temples Pilgrimage. Our city is located near Seto inland sea and is well known as Setouchi Islands introduced as the 7thplace on「52 places to go」by New York times.
I think Google map and its programe is one of the most useful and dreamy tools for tourists.
They can access the information they want instantly and at any time.
Therefore as a local guide , I try to share information not only about hot springs but also other information.I hope my opinion and comments would be useful for many tourists.
Now I try to share information about Japanese culture through old temples etc. There may only be a few people interested in it. But by this dreamy tools , I wonder if I could share and save Japanese traditional culture. Many temples and shrines are located in local areas or heritage sites. It is getting older year by year without people noticing. By using google map, temples , shrines and so on are saved as photos by digital technology and get accessed easily. It could let people notice the traditional culture.
Traditional things not only in Japan , but in all over the countries– buildings , streets ,and historical spots are getting old ,and sometimes are destroyed. It is difficult to save the forms as they used to be.If people around the world save the forms by photos on Google map, it would be preserved for the future.
Like a Doraemon solving problems for Nobita , Google map could provide convenient information and could save the figure of traditional things all over the world.
