The golden tiles of the main keep in Nagoya shine with the old light of Edo, and the portable shrine of Atsuta Shrine conceals century-old wood grain. However, the secrets of these thousand-year-old cultures once troubled overseas tourists – the explanations were noisy, hard to understand, and the equipment was not suitable for the local environment. It was not until Yingmi brought a customized wireless tour guide system that the ancient city opened a window to “communicate with the world”.
I. Nagoya’s “Cultural and Tourism Dilemma”
When you visit Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, you will find that every detail here exudes an “old flavor” – the golden beast-head tiles of the Nagoya Castle keep, when exposed to the midday sun, feel warm when touched with your fingertips, and the patterns of the gold foil are as fine as hair. The wooden palanquin of Atsuta Shrine feels slippery to the touch. It’s a patina formed over hundreds of years when touched by people. The wooden corridor in Inuyama City makes a “creaking” sound when you walk fast. Local elders say, “This is a craftsman from the Edo period greeting you.” The miso-cooked udon from the street-side shop was just served, and the aroma of the sauce could spread across the street. It was made with the unique “Hachidin miso” of Aichi Prefecture. But these good things often leave overseas tourists at a loss:
1. Multi-team Interference: The “Noisy Dilemma” in Ancient Sites
The staircase of the main keep of Nagoya Castle is very narrow. Even if two people walk side by side, they have to turn their bodies. The main hall of Atsuta Shrine is surrounded by low shrines, without even a single shield. During the peak season, several teams squeeze together to give explanations, with Japanese and English mixed together, leaving tourists’ ears as if stuffed with cotton.
Ms. Yamada from Atsuta Shrine told us, “Last year during the Goshin Festival, three teams were simultaneously giving explanations near the main hall. The priests’ voices reciting the ritual words were already very soft and were completely drowned out.” An American tourist grabbed my arm and asked, “what did he say?” I pricked up my ears and listened for a long time, but could only shake my head – I couldn’t even make out what the priest was saying myself.
The most amusing and frustrating place was the Dog Mountain Castle. The echoes were loud in the wooden corridor. The tour guide’s voice was hoarse, but the tourists still couldn’t hear clearly, “This wooden pillar is 300 years old.” In the end, they could only wander around aimlessly with the crowd. A British tourist joked with his companion, “We’re not visiting historical sites. We’re ‘walking through a maze following the sounds.'” “
2. Cultural Interpretation is “too superficial” : The charm in the details is “deeply hidden”
The ingredients in Aichi Prefecture all have their own secrets – the soup base for making udon with miso has to be fermented for 18 months with “hachidin miso”, and if it’s one day less, it won’t have that fresh flavor. In the dance of the Oshikawa Festival, the dancers’ fans open and close, symbolizing “attracting good fortune”. It’s not right to be a little slower. But no one mentioned these, and overseas tourists simply couldn’t figure them out.
An American tourist wrote in his travelogue: “I had a bowl of miso udon and only knew ‘delicious’. It wasn’t until I left Nagoya that I learned from the innkeeper that the miso in the soup was a local specialty. If I had known, I should have asked more questions. Now when I think about it, I regret it.”
Another time, a Chinese tourist stared at the dragon sculpture on the divine palanquin for a long time and asked the staff, “Why does this dragon only have three toes?” The staff couldn’t answer and could only say “traditional”. The tourist finally shrugged his shoulders and said, “Forget it. As long as it looks good anyway, that’s fine.”
3. “Non-compliant” equipment compatibility: Imported equipment “fails to adapt to the local environment
Japan has strict regulations on electronic devices. The absence of either radio frequency or environmental protection certification is unacceptable. Previously, some scenic spots had tried out tour guide devices of other brands, but were asked to stop using them after just three days – they did not comply with the radio wave law. Some machines, once they get damp during the rainy season, have their battery life reduced from 6 hours to 3 hours. Tourists run out of power halfway through their visit and have to ask the staff to replace them. Eventually, there’s no other choice but to stop using them.
When Mr. Suzuki, the section chief of the Nagoya Tourism Bureau, said this to us, he waved his hand helplessly and said, “We can’t let tourists carry their unpowered machines and follow others to listen to fragmented explanations, can we?” That’s just too outrageous.”
When all these things are piled up together, the thousand-year-old culture of Nagoya seems to be veiled in a veil. Overseas tourists can see the patterns on the eave tiles and the carvings on the portable shrines, but they can’t understand the stories and secrets behind them at all.
Ii. Yingmi’s “Nagoya Customized Solution”
After learning about these troubles in Nagoya, we didn’t dare to use the “universal” equipment to make up for it – Japan has many rules and a unique culture. If it’s not compliant or not down-to-earth, it won’t damage the brand. The team stayed in Nagoya for 18 days with the equipment. Every day was like going to work: in the morning, they followed Mr. Sato to walk around the keep three times to see which monument and which tile tourists stayed the longest, and wrote down “this part needs to be emphasized”. At noon, I had a bento with the staff at the scenic spot and listened to them talk about the questions that tourists often ask. In the evening, I went to Professor Tanaka from Nagoya University to scrutinize the details. I even had to repeatedly confirm the “fermentation days of Hachidou miso” for fear of making a mistake. Finally, this plan was presented:
1.Multilingual + automatic sensing: Making cultural stories “barrier-free”
The tour guide machine specifically supports six languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, German and French – based on the tourist data of Nagoya (Asian tourists account for 40% and European and American tourists account for 35%). When tourists choose their native language, they don’t need to press a button. As soon as they reach the scenic spot, it will automatically ring:
Standing under the golden bean-head tiles, the equipment would softly say, “These tiles are made of gold foil pasted by the ‘forging gold method’. Every March, special artisans are invited to maintain them. People in the Edo period believed that they could ‘ward off fire and evil spirits’, so they were deliberately placed on the top of the keep.”
Standing beside the sacred sedan chair at Atsuta Shrine, he would say, “This sacred sedan chair is renovated every 20 years. The wood used is cypress from Aichi Prefecture. Look at the dragon carvings on the pillars. They only have three toes – this is the ‘divine pattern’ style in Japanese Shintoism, which is different from the five-toed dragon in China.”
2. Anti-interference team Explanation: Solving the pain point of “noise in Narrow Spaces”
For the narrow Spaces like the keep and the main hall, we have adopted 2.4G wireless digital transmission technology and added a customized anti-interference algorithm – even if three teams speak simultaneously within a 100-square-meter area, the channels will not be interchanged.
During the National Day peak season last year, the main keep of Nagoya Castle was extremely crowded. The Chinese team talked about “seismic resistance mortise and tenon joints of wooden structures”, and the English team talked about “How the Lord of the castle lived in the Edo period”. Tourists wearing receivers could hear everything clearly, not even missing a detail like “mortise and tenon joints do not use a single nail”. The tour guide, Kobayashi, who was in charge of leading the group, told us, “In the past, when leading groups to Europe and America, I had to shout at the top of my lungs. By the end of the day, my voice was so hoarse that I couldn’t speak. Even if tourists surrounded me to listen, I could only catch a few words.” “Now, if I stand five meters away and speak, they can all hear me clearly. I don’t have to suffer anymore.”
3. Compliance + Environmental Adaptation: Solving the Problem of “Culture Shock”
We certified the tour guide machine half a year in advance – including the TELEC radio wave certification from Japan and the ROHS environmental protection certification. We didn’t miss any of them. Even the instruction manual is printed in both Japanese and English, and the buttons are marked in Japanese. I’m just afraid it won’t be compliant and get stuck.
In response to the climate of Nagoya, optimizations have also been made: The casing is made of waterproof IP54 material, so there’s no need to worry about getting rained on during the rainy season – once during a heavy rain, the equipment was placed at an outdoor explanation point and was exposed to the rain for 20 minutes. After drying it, it still worked fine. The battery has been replaced with heat-resistant cells. It can last for 8 hours at 35℃ in summer and 10℃ in spring and autumn, which is sufficient from opening to closing.
Mr. Sato is the most qualified to speak: “The previous machines would run out of power as soon as they got damp during the rainy season. When tourists asked me to replace them, I felt embarrassed.” This Yingmi is different. I carried it in my pocket and strolled around for a whole day. When the museum closed in the afternoon, the battery was still over half left. It didn’t even freeze in the -2 ℃ winter. It’s reliable!”
4. Zoned explanation: Suitable for “festival + cooking” scenarios
The festivals and cuisine of Aichi Prefecture are its specialties. We have specially designed a zoning system – during the Osokawa Festival, the square is divided into a “dance area” and a “shamisen performance area”. When tourists walk to any area, the equipment will automatically switch and explain. In the dining area of the local cuisine restaurant, the guide will say, “This bowl of grilled eel rice requires the eel to be steamed first and then grilled. The sauce is made with eel liver broth. It is a unique cooking method in Nagoya and cannot be found elsewhere.” Last year at the Osho River Festival, a French tourist walked to the dance area. After listening to the saying “The opening and closing of a fan represents good fortune”, he gently shook his head to the rhythm of the explanation and said “c ‘est sympa” to his companion in French (how interesting). I walked to the food stand, listened to the recipe for the eel liver broth, and deliberately ordered a bowl. After finishing it, I told the shopkeeper, “I didn’t know there was eel liver in the sauce. No wonder it was so fresh.” The shopkeeper smiled and handed me his business card, saying, “Come to me again next time. I’ll make you a more authentic one!” “
Iii. Make the explanation “Have the flavor of Nagoya
We know that a tour guide is not just about “talking”. The content it conveys should have the “warmth of Nagoya” – don’t just list knowledge points dryly. It should be something that overseas tourists can listen to and resonate with.
1. Integrate “Local stories” : Bring History to life
The explanation included many “exclusive stories” of Nagoya – for instance, when talking about Tokugawa Ieyasu building Nagoya Castle, it would mention, “He deliberately asked the craftsmen to stick less gold foil on the animal-head tiles, saying, ‘It’s not good to be too flamboyance.’ This is exactly the same as his low-key style of doing things. Even now, the locals still say, ‘Ieyasu’s tiles, don’t steal the show.'” When it comes to the priestly costumes of Atsuta Shrine, it is added that “before each wear, they need to be exposed to the sun for three days to remove moisture. This rule has been passed down since the Edo period. The priests say, ‘Clothes that have been exposed to the sun feel warm when worn.'”
After hearing the story of the beast head tiles, a German tourist deliberately went around to the side of the keep, took out a notebook and wrote it down. He told us, “This kind of detail is so interesting. It’s much better than looking at the display boards in a museum.”
2. Interpreting “Little Details” : Making Charm “Impossible to Hide
When it comes to the details of folk art and cuisine, the explanations will delve a bit deeper. For instance, when talking about the dance of the Oshigawa Festival, it would say, “The dancers’ belts are made of silk from Aichi Prefecture. The cherry blossoms on them need to be embroidered for three days, and each stitch must be aligned. The embroiderer would say, ‘If it’s a bit crooked, the cherry blossoms won’t look lively.'” When talking about the wooden structure of Inuyama Castle, one would explain, “This wooden pillar is made of ‘larch’, which is resistant to insect damage and thus can last for 300 years. At that time, the craftsmen had to pick the wood in the mountains for three years before they dared to use it.”
A British scholar specializing in architecture, after listening to the explanation of the wooden structure, specifically asked Mr. Sato for the contact information of the craftsman, saying, “I would like to ask about this wood treatment method. Our country’s old buildings also have similar problems.” This is the power of details, which can connect people from different countries.
Iv. Data and Word-of-Mouth: Visible Experience Upgrades
The system was implemented in Nagoya Castle, Atsuta Shrine and Inuyama Castle for four months. The changes are obvious and not just empty talk; they are real: overseas tourists are staying for a significantly longer time – they used to leave after an average of one hour, but now they can stay for two hours. A Chinese tourist drew a smiling face and wrote, “Even the miso fermentation lasted for 18 months. So dedicated, even more professional than a tour guide.”
The complaints about the team’s explanations have decreased by 75%. The previous problems of “unclear hearing” and “noise” have all disappeared. Mr. Sato said, “Now when tourists come to me, they all ask, ‘Where can I rent a tour guide?’ No one has complained about the noise anymore.”
Section Chief Suzuki said that after using the tour guide machine, overseas tourists’ understanding of “Nagoya culture” increased by 60%, and 20% of the tourists said they “would recommend friends to come”.
What moved us the most was that a British architectural scholar, after listening to the explanation of the wooden structure of the keep, specially contacted the Nagoya Cultural Tourism Bureau, hoping to have an academic exchange: “I want to introduce the seismic resistance technology of Nagoya’s wooden structures to the UK, so that more people can know the wisdom of Eastern architecture.” When Section Chief Suzuki said this to us, there was a sparkle in his eyes: “This is what culture looks like when it spreads.”
Conclusion: Let the thousand-year-old ancient city have a “soft dialogue” with the world
One evening at the gate of Nagoya Castle, I saw a German tourist wearing a tour guide, repeatedly listening to explanations about the beast head tiles under the setting sun, muttering, “So the maintenance of gold leaf requires such meticulous care.” Then he took out his mobile phone and sent a voice message to his companion, his tone brimming with excitement. After hearing this, his companion also came over to listen together. The two of them danced and discussed in German, and the confusion on their faces gradually turned into understanding smiles.
At that moment, I felt that what we were doing was not just equipment; it was helping this thousand-year-old ancient city have a good “chat” with the world – chatting about how to stick the gold foil on the beast head tiles, about the stories behind the carvings of the divine palanzo, about how long the miso udon soup base needs to be simmered, and about those “Nagoya flavors” hidden in the details. If you have such needs, I recommend Yingmi.
In the future, we will continue to do this – from Nagoya to Kyoto and Osaka, we will refine plans for more historical sites and more festivals, so that the cultural charm of Japan can reach the hearts of global tourists through clear and vivid explanations. After all, good cultural transmission should not have a language wall and should not have the regret of “not understanding”. And we just want to help get rid of all these regrets, so that every historical site can have a “soft dialogue” with the world.