Post date: 2010/02/11 2:22:15
The article below is from the JGA site.
http://www.jga21c.or.jp/jga_guideinterpreter2_e.html
Guide-Interpreter Business Law which came into effect in 1949 is the law to regulate the guide-interpreter business. This law aims at "sound growth of the guide-interpreter business and being conducive to the improvement of attending service to foreign visitors".(Article 1) In other words this law recognizes the importance of travel to Japan by foreigners and it asserts that the protection and fosterage of guide-interpreters is therefore necessary.
This law stipulates that the guide-interpreter business is to escort foreigners and to give them guiding services concerning travel with the use of a foreign language for a consideration.(Article 2) It means that if you get a fee for guiding foreigners in a foreign language without the guide license, it is illegal even though you're doing it as a part-time job. As it is the business to give services to foreigners, the phrase like "to escort foreigners" or "with the use of a foreign language" is a matter of course. And the phrase "guiding services concerning travel" shows that these services include quite a wide range of traveling in Japan such as services related to travel, means of transportation, restaurants, souvenir shops and so forth.
As for the qualification for this business, Article 3 says that one who tries to do the guide-interpreter business has to pass the examination given by Ministry of Land,Infrastructure and Transport and acquire a license issued by a prefectural government. Therefore if you do the business without the license, you might be fined less than \500,000.