Last July, my sister and I visited Brunei Dam Salaam.
（* You can read the details in the previous diary.）
I had to go shopping to prepare for the trip, I especially I needed buy to a swimsuit.
We planned to stay in a hotel named Empire hotel that had four pools, so we were looking forward to swimming there.
I had a swimsuit, but it was a bikini.
According to tourist guides, Brunei is an Islamic country, so they recommended to try to dress modestly.
It seemed that the hotel sold swimwear, but the size in foreign country is not always right, so I thought I should buy a swimsuit in Japan before going to Brunei.
(As I learned later, this was the right decision. They were selling swimsuits but there was no fitting room.)
There are two Marui department stores in Shinjuku, and the main building sells swimwear.
The top floor of the department store was the swimwear section, and a cute clerk talked to me.
“May I help you?”
I said “Yes, I’m looking for a swimsuit, but I’m going to an Islamic country so I shouldn’t have on that’s revealing. But I don’t want to wear an unfashionable swimwear. In other words, I am looking for something fashionable and morally acceptable.”
I thought it was a strange request.
But she smiled and guided me to the one piece section.
There were lots of fashionable swimsuits that seemed to be no problem for the Islamic world, so I gladly picked one.
But soon after that, the clerk appeared in front of me again with her recommended swimsuit.
But soon after that, the clerk appeared in front of me again with her recommended swimsuit.
Surprisingly it was my favorite color.
It’s called Aiiro in Japanese, but it’s called indigo blue in English.
I didn’t tell her what color I liked, but I wore an indigo striped T-shirt and indigo gaucho pants that day, so she might have understood my tastes.
It was really nice to try on, and I liked it immediately, so much so that I couldn’t look for anything else.
I was impressed by the store’s excellent products offering and the staff gave me what I wanted immediately.
After returning home, I was excited for a while and wanted to tell this story to someone.
But I wasn’t on any social media at the time.
However, I found that I could write a comment for the shop on Google Maps, so I wrote a good review.
I also enjoyed writing my own experiences and recommendations, so I posted a comment about a restaurant I went to that day and a movie theater I went to a few days before.
At that time, a Google Maps pop-up came up.
The advertisement encouraged me to become a local guide and post about other stores as well.
I didn’t know of local guides until then.
It seemed like they were people who wrote comments about various shops and public places on Google Maps.
It was like playing a video game, the more you post, the higher your level.
The system is interesting and I like writing, so I continued this habit.
Shopping on the Internet is convenient, but if you go outside to shop, you can have an interesting experience. I think the unexpected experience comes mainly from talking to others, which can be difficult nowadays because of the coronavirus.
I will read the Local guide program rules more carefully and next time I will really take care of myself when I post an article. And thanks again for the kinds words. Have a nice day.