Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on November 26. We had 20 guests from America, Canada, Chile, Holland, Germany, Israel, and Singapore. I hope all of you enjoyed our tour in the old part of Tokyo in spite of congestion. It will be a fresh experience for you to take a boat cruise and watch a different angle of Tokyo on Sumida river. There are a few routes from Asakusa. I recommend the cruise to Hama-Rikyu Gardens for autumn color viewing. It takes about 30 minutes. The boat rolls but little. The departing area of the boat around Azumabashi Bridge commands a nice view of Tokyo Sky Tree and the beer mug-shaped building of Asahi Beer company, a major Japanese beverage company. One of the beauties of Sumida River is a bridge. Every bridge has a different shape and color. The original Ryogoku bridge was constructed after the Meireki Great Fire in 1657 when a huge number of people drowned in the river. Eitai Bridge is famous for 50 mikoshi(portable shrines) passing on the occasion of nearby Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine Festival. From this bridge high-rise condominium buildings are seen on the island where the shipbuilding industry started. The last […]
We thank many guests who participated in the tour. On that day we welcomed over 42 people from Australia, USA, Norway, Austria, UK, Indonesia, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, and Nederland. We divided into 5 groups. The weather was very clear. It was a best autumn day. The East Garden turned autumn colors already so we could enjoy beautiful scenes with red and yellow leaves. Not only in Tokyo but in Japan’s old capital, Kyoto was in autumn leaf viewing season. The middle age temples and gardens were crowded with tourists viewing the leaves. Some temples held light-up of the leaves at night. Light-up was magnificent. Hotels were already packed so no reservation for a room was available. In Japan people enjoy viewing these leaves as one of autumn events, which we call “Momiji-gari.” It literally means hunting autumn leaves. But we do not hunt them but just view and enjoy the scenaries. Unlike cherry blossoms season, we do not do picnic under the trees because temperature is low. But some enjoy tea ceremony under the trees. One of the guides attended tea ceremony hosted by a Canadian tea ceremony master, Randy Channell Soei at Chionji Temple last Thursday. Having […]
・Date/Time : Wed. Nov. 29 , 2017 ( 10:00―12:00 ) ・Meeting Place : Tokyo Station Marunouchi Central Gate (ground floor) [more on where to find us] ・We leave at 10:00. Please take care to arrive on time ! ・Participation Fee : Free ・Reservation : Not required ・Participants : Foreign tourists and residents, and their accompanying Japanese friends, families, etc. For more information on our tour please visit our website, facebook, And TripAdvisor page !
We thank all guests joining our East garden of the Imperial Palace tour on Nov.18. We welcomed 34 guests from 15 countries all over the world. Unfortunately it was rain, a little bit cold and windy. In this condition, we always worried about the way of tour because our tour is all outside. Now Gingko trees along the Gyoko Street colored yellow. We enjoyed it. Speaking of Gingko trees, do you know Meiji Jingu Gaien? Meiji Jingu Gaien is one of the park in Tokyo and was made in 1923. It is known as the street lined with Gingko trees. Gingko trees of Meiji Jingu Gaien are planted in perspective. So we can see the beautiful landscape like paintings. Especially in autumn, Gingko leaves change color from green to yellow. After that yellow Gingko leaves fall down and cover the ground. It looks like the golden carpet. Around Meiji Jingu Gaien, there are a lot of nice café restaurants. I think it is the best place to stroll and eat out in autumn. I went there last week and enjoyed beautiful landscape. It was so nice! (posted by Y. Hino)
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa areas. On November 12, with the sunny and occasionally cloudy weather, we welcomed sixteen guests from the different corners of the world; South Korea, Israel, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Argentine, Brazil, Singapore and U.K. It was a long-awaited weather on that day. On our previous tour in Asakusa, we had heavy rainfall and strong wind due to a powerful typhoon. On that lovely day, at the time we arrived at Nakamise street, it was already full of visitors, and we were still moving into the shopping street. This was because this shopping path would immediately be packed with enthusiastic visitors of Buddhist temple, Sensoji Temple. This commercial street is the main landmark to the Buddhist establishment, which is the oldest Buddhist building in Tokyo. Did you find your memorable and salable items at these preferable shops? Well, let me talk about an attraction in Asakusa, Yakatabune The Yakatabune is a Japanese-style wooden boat used for tours. For two hours, the passengers of Yakatabune can experience Japanese cuisine while sailing on various rivers in Japan. This Japanese wooden boat is around twenty meters long, and can accommodate roughly 50 guests per […]
This afternoon was a little bit windy, but rather warm during the daylight. What a great day it was to stroll around in the last term of autumn. The ginko trees along the Gyoko Street was expecially colorful enough to let us know that winter is much close. Every people walking around seemed to be relaxing and feeling at ease of the comfortable season before getting heavy coats, mufflers, mittons to put on. We would like to appreciate all of our guests to find us from multiple choices of sightseeing places, attractive activities in Tokyo. All of our guides really appreciate the occasion meeting every of you and sometimes it even makes us become enthusiastic!! This day, we could met around 20 people from U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Israel, Spain, Singapore, Cyprus, Argentina, New Zealand. We made five groups so every group was like a private tour. We always look forward enjoying to walk in both small and big groups that depends on that day. At the end of our tour, instant kimonos are also waiting for our guests to be put on. We were happy that our kimonos were quite busy on this day also. For example, like a person for me, I am almost a beginner and it […]
Thank you, all of you, for accompanying us on our tour to Meiji Shrine and Harajuku district on November 5. It was absolutely wonderful weather in autumn. We welcomed 14 guests from Canada, Brazil, Italy, UK, Austria, Belgium and Russia. Four of the participants had kindly joined our tour to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace the day before which we appreciate. We enjoyed watching a lot of children wearing cute clothing, wedding parades and the chrysanthemum display on the way to the main building. November 15 is Shichi-Go-San(7-5-3) Day to pray for the growth of children of three, five and seven years of age. Boys and girls of three, boys of five and girls of seven are taken principally to the Shinto shrines such as Meiji Shrine by their parents to give thanks and blessings for the future. The girls we saw wearing pretty kimono and boys in hakama(divided skirts) were to take purification rituals. In the old days infant death rates were high, so those ages were uncertain and critical in a child life. In fact Shichi-Go-San was a milestone in the health of children. Shichi-Go-San is said to have 1,000 year history. The fifth Shogun Tsunayoshi […]
Thank you all the guests who joined Tokyo Free Walking Tour in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace!! We welcomed 51 guests from 17 countries all over the world. A comfortable sunny weekend finally came back – after four consecutive rainy saturdays. Many people were enjoying the first nice saturday in a long while in the gardens. Due to the scheduled visit of U.S. president Mr. Trump in the following day, the security around the Imperial Palace was tight and people were making up a long queue for their baggage checks at the entrance. We later heard that his daughter Ivanka had also been at the Imperial Palace in the morning. At the ending point of the tour, we were welcomed by a large spread of national flags of countries all over the world lined up on the front of a building. The display was to celebrate 1,000 days to the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The countdown has started! The street leading from Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace was beautifully lined with ginkgo trees that have turned vivid yellow. Maple trees in the Imperial Gardens will soon turn red. You see the “autumnal color […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour for Meiji Shinto Shrine＆Takeshita Street area. On that day, 29 October, we welcomed four guests; U.K., South Africa, Canada, Singapore and Brazil. We really appreciate your participation despite a terrible weather condition. Typhoon number 22, internationally called as typhoon Saola, was heading to the direction of the sea on the east side of Japan. Gradually decreasing in strength and intensity, Saola left torrential rain in Tokyo, since early morning, and was expected to head to the northern part of Japan. Even under the circumstances of rain and cloudy skies, we still conducted our tour. We started the tour in front of a big Tori, or a Shinto shrine gate. We proceeded to the main shrine building of the Meiji Shinto Shrine. On our way, we encountered some displays in the shrine compound. One was a showcase featuring Kiku, or Chrysanthemum. The other display showcased bonsai plants, or miniaturized trees. These plants gave us fairly adequate amounts of topics that we used to introduce different aspects of Japanese culture. Immediately before reaching the shrine’s main building, there was a heavy downpour. We waited for the rain to stop while spending time in the […]
Today we welcomed 26 guests from U.S.A., Canada, Israel, U.K., Mexico, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, China, Taiwan. It was a rainy day but our guests enjoyed beautiful scenery and taking pictures a lot !! In Japan when it comes to autumn. We say autumn is the best season for arts and entertainment in Japan. This is probably because it’s the time of year when art galleries and exhibits are organized. Have you ever heard of “Hasui Kawase” ? From the Taisho period to the Showa period, Hasui Kawase intended to restore Ukiyo-e with new woodblock prints (Shin-hanga) and left behind many works that utilized the woodblock multicolor printing technique of Ukiyo-e. These postcards are my favorite Hasui’s Shin-hanga prints. Hasui’s works are as popular as ” Hokusai”and “Hiroshige ” abroad. Steve Jobs was one of fervent collector for Hasui. If you have a time, please go to his exhibition! Autumn is one of the best season of the year for a walk in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. Our next tour will be on November 4th. Come meet us at the Marunouchi Central Gate at Tokyo station by 13:00. We hope to see you next tour […]
