Promoting Local Bed and Breakfasts to Japanese Tourists Visiting the

DC-Metropolitan Area

Japanese Brochure-Making Module in the GW-CIBER

JAPN 122W Spring 2009

Mitsuyo Sato (satom@gwu.edu) and Shoko Hamano (hamano@gwu.edu)

 

   

Goal

 

The goal of this module was to produce Japanese brochures promoting Washington DC-Metropolitan area Bed and Breakfast inns (B&B) for Japanese tourists and to distribute them to local Japanese businesses and organization for promotional purposes.

 

In achieving this goal it was expected that the project would give students an opportunity to apply their language skills to a tangible business task outside the classroom while providing service to local businesses and enhansing the sense of community between the local community and a university classroom.

 

The students would also learn common hospitality-industry vocabulary and expressions as well as cultural differences between American B&B and minshuku, a Japanese equivalent of B&B.

 

Further, it was hoped that through corresponding with Japanese professionals and preparing commercial brochures the students would improve their skills with the Japanese honorific language, an essential component of Business Japanese.

 

Class

 

Japanese 122 (Advanced Conversation & Composition II) is a 3-credit course for fourth-year Japanese students. The students must have taken Japanese 121 (Advanced Conversation & Composition I) or must have spent at least a semester in Japan and demonstrate an equivalent ability in conversation and writing skills.

 

The class focuses on productive skills at the extended discourse level and topic-specific practice on commonly used speech patterns and writing formats.

 

The class met twice a week for one hour and 15 minutes between January 13 and April 28, 2009 for 15 weeks.

 

Time Table

 

The project took the first 5 weeks of the Spring Semester (January 13 to February 17, 2009) and one additional day for group presentations of the brochures.

 

Participants in the Project

 

  • 10 students registered in the fourth-year Japanese class at The George Washington University (JAPN122W, Fall 2009) participated in the production of the brochures.
  • The Arlington and Alexandria Bed & Breakfast Network (AABBN) assisted the instructor locating participating bed and breakfast inns.
  • The inns supplied the information and some photos.
  • 10 Japanese professionals reviewed the studentsʼ brochures and suggested improvements.

 

Instructor Preparation

 

Before this module started, the instructor did the preparations in the following areas:

For class instruction

 

For the brochures

  • Identified accommodations (e.g. B&Bs, hotels) willing to participate in the Japanese-brochure making project. The total number of accommodations depended on the class size. It was considered ideal to assign one accommodation for each group of two to three students.
  • Obtained basic information required for the Japanese brochures from the accomodations’ English websites and brochures (e.g. building history, short owner biography, prices, addresses, email and web addresses, etc.).
  • Requested accomodations to provide color photos used in brochures.

 

Finding reviewers of the brochres

  • Found native speakers of Japanese willing to review the studentsʼ drafts. The number of the native speaker was the same as a number of the students so that each student would be paired with one Japanese speaker.
  • All were professionals currently working either in US or in Japan in various fields of business including tourism, finance, marketing and law.

 

Identifying outlets for the brochures

  • Contacted local Japanese businesses interested to receive the finished brochures. Ten business organizations were contacted including the Embassy of Japan, the Japan Information and Culture Center, IACE travel, Maruichi Grocery, Japan Society of Washington DC and Japan Care Fund.

 

Students’ Tasks

 

  • Learned different types of Japanese accommodations, vocabulary which are frequently used on various websites of minshuku a type of accommodation in Japan, usually a private house providing meal and lodging for tourists as well as differences between American B&B and Japanese minshuku
  • Decided which items should be included in the brochures in Japanese, and chose additional content (e.g. sightseeing spots, history, transportation, etc.)
  • Wrote all the content of the brochure and formal emails to Japanese professionals requesting review of the brochure. Revised the brochure based on the reviews. Wrote formal letters of introduction to Japan-related business and organizations in DC area and wrote formal thank-you emails for the Japanese professionals: sample letter 1, sample letter 2, sample letter 3
  • Designed the brochure to be attractive and professional using Microsoft Word and Publisher
  • Discussed how to improve the content with the B&B owner, and critiqued content of each other’s brochure.

 

Class Schedule

 

Week

Task

Quiz, Composition, Assignment

1

Explain overview of the project. Reading 1 (various types of accommodations in Japan （ホテルと旅館の違い and 民宿とは from ウィキペディア　全日本百科全書). Discuss the difference and similarity of B&B and minshuku. Discuss various types of accommodations in America (e.g. hotel, B&B, motel, guest house). Make a list of words which are used frequently on minshuku website (宿ネット（http://www.yadonet.ne.jp/index.shtml）, 楽天トラベル　ペンション・民宿予約（http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/pension/）. ぶらり日本の旅　旅館・民宿・ホテル検索（http://www.burari.biz/）. The words list was categorized under Facilities, Sightseeing, Money,Transportation, Contact, Food, Frequently-used verbs and Others (handout)

Vocabulary Quiz from Reading 1

2

Reading 2 (observation on hotels in America from a Japanese who works in American hotels, 私が見たアメリカのホテルHotel in USA　（http://appleworld.com/aal/bbs/column/hotel_in_usa/index.html）)

Vocabulary Quiz from Reading 2

3

Discuss sightseeing places in DC to include in
brochure. Each group decides contents of brochure. Each group starts to make the first draft of the brochure

Each group starts to make the first draft of the brochure

4

Learn how to write a formal letter in Japanese (handout). Review Japanese honorifics

Composition Assignment: write an email to introduce yourself to a Japanese professional (rewrite after the instructorʼs correction)

5

Peer-review the first draft of the brochure

Redo the first draft based on peer-review

7

Presentation of the final draft of the brochure

Composition Assignment: write a formal letter to a Japanese organization (rewrite after the instructorʼs correction)

 

Product Samples

 

Brochure 1

  

 

Brochure 2

  

 

Brochure 3