The following are excerpts from narratives and suggestions regarding the "Spirit of Hospitality", gathered from around Japan.

When visitors asked me for directions and I showed them the way, they appreciated it a lot and said to me "I will definitely return to Nara."  I felt very happy to know that I could reach out to them by demonstrating my "Spirit of Hospitality."

Hospitality is quite a simple matter, people tend to regard it as an embarrassing matter or couldn't be bothered with it, but once you understand and experience the satisfaction that you could reach out to visitors through a simple gesture of hospitality, I would assume that you would not think that Hospitality is embarrassing or bothersome.

I think the "Spirit of Hospitality" is very important for Nara Prefecture, to aim at becoming "The Oasis of Relaxation in the Kansai Region."

I am sure Nara will be a more wonderful place if all the residents of Nara Prefecture adopt a hospitable, warm and friendly attitude towards all visitors.

Greeting each other was a matter of course in times gone by but unfortunately, nowadays when we greet children, we rarely get a response from them.

I would assume that the "Spirit of Hospitality" comes firstly from family and then permeates through to the local community.

Every morning, I greet children attending school, saying, "Good morning!" with as a loud voice as possible. Initially, they ran away with heads bowed, but now, they reply me with their meek voices.

One day, I happened by chance to meet a person who greeted me at a supermarket. He cheered me up by saying, "I feel comfortable to be greeted with a smile early in the morning."

An old person said, "When I was out walking, junior high school students said hello to me." "Until now, most young people never greeted old people in such a way. I spent a whole day feeling happy."

A little greeting can make people happy. The atmosphere of local community will change if every resident starts to greet each other naturally. This creates the ideal atmosphere for visitors.

I think a wonderful town is one full of people greeting each other without hesitation. I also think that towns, whose residents are living happily and harmoniously, create a healthy and affluent environment for visitors.

Spontaneous hospitality is the ideal mindset for Nara; For example, residents of Nara love their hometown, those who come and go greet each other as a matter of course and it would be ideal if visitors can freely drop in and out to visit such a wonderful place.
I would like to see residents of our town be proactive and thoughtful as to put out chairs so that visitors can rest freely, make toilets available for public use in business establishments as well as increasing the number of public toilets.

When I was taking a stroll around Nara-machi streets, I found that there are only a few rest and toilet facilities.

If a stool was placed in front of private dwellings / vacant dwellings and temple precincts for visitors, and what’s more if they were treated to a cup of tea, it would become an unforgettable experience for them. Only if toilets of private dwellings were opened up to visitors and as a result, a pleasant environment offered to them as well. 

We are going to promote building towns empowered with the "Spirit of Hospitality" throughout Nara Prefecture by gradually expanding this idea throughout our communities.