A Juicy Work

     The woman in the picture is my daughter, who lives in Tokyo. She sent me this picture the other day. She is on a rickshaw in Asakusa, a famous tourist attraction in Tokyo. Do you know the rickshaw? It's a human-powered vehicle with two wheels. It seems that rickshaws can be seen in various places in the world but the word "rickshaw" is supposed to originate from Japan. Most rickshaws in Japan are designed for one or two people. The rickshaw in the first picture seats one person.
     Formerly, the rickshaw was one of the forms of transport and rickshaw men had to be tough and powerful enough to pull their rickshaws. At present, however, they are required to show the tourists around. Asakusa has old town elegance and its own history. There are some famous tourist spots in the area. The present rickshaw men have to learn Japanese culture, traditional things and need to have a litle knowledge of foreign languages.
     Then, there becomes a problem of who judges the rickshaw men's knowledge and attitude to the customers. As the rickshaw man is often away from the rickshaw station, taking his customers to visit tourist spots and giving explanations about the sights, it is not possible for the supervisor to monitor the level of service being provided.
     My daughter's task, commissioned by the rickshaw company, is as a kind of tester of the rickshaw men. She gets on the rickshaw, as indicated by the company, and talks to the rickshaw man, who is usually newly hired. After that, she reports her remarks to the company. Needless to say, the rickshaw man doesn't know she is a tester. Japanese culture is her subject and she can talk in English, French and Korean. This task isn't hard for her, besides she looks like she is enjoying sightseeing.
     It's a real juicy job, I think. What do you say?

(Vocabulary)
jinrikisha / rickshaw / ricksha / rikisha / rikshaw  人力車
old town elegance  下町の粋

(KW: くるま屋　浅草　人力車　あさくさ　くるまや)

Comments

[Abhishek]

You are welcome. There are many companies that specialize in "Mystery Shopping".

I envy mystery shoppers of luxury resorts around the world. :-)

[KUMO]

Hi, Abhishek!

Thank you for showing "mystery shopping."
This expression was new to me, and it was a good lesson.

Thanks, really thanks!

[Abhishek]

Very interesting post. Mystery Shopping is also used as a term to describe what your daughter is doing.