Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour for Asakusa area. On that day, 22 October, we welcomed four guests; Spain, Argentina and Netherlands We really appreciate your participation despite a terrible weather condition because we had torrential rain since early morning. Predicted as a typhoon with an unprecedented size, strength, and scope of destruction, typhoon number 21 with the international name typhoon Lan was approaching the direction of the Kanto and Tokai regions, which include Tokyo and neighboring prefectures. The violent storm was expected to make its landfall in those areas on Monday morning. Not surprisingly, the gloomy weather did not chase the visitors of Asakusa away. We can still see enthusiastic visitors in every corner of the district, despite of the weather condition in Japan. We can rarely see a huge lantern like this, folded up. There are only two occasions when this iconic lantern is being tucked to itself. First is during the time when it needs to give way for portable shrines. Portable shrines are usually carried out of temple compound during the Sanja festival in the month of May. The lantern is folded to avoid it getting punctured by the portable shrines. The other time […]
Thanks to all the guests for joining and having a good time with us! Though it’s rainy day, we welcomed 34 guests and divided into 2 groups. I talked our guest about Typhoon which is coming Japan islands and will land next Monday. This is reported as one of the biggest Typhoons ever seen. One of our guests asked me what should we do on the Typhoon day. I replied it’s better to stay in your hotel, though they want to go out. They are a little afraid of the Typhoon, but a couple from Vancouver seems to be expecting it because this is first experience of Typhoon for them. Anyway we’re happy because we welcomed a lot of guests than we expected and every guest seemed to enjoy the tour, though it rains during all the time of the tour today. Then I hope the guests from Poland to safely return to your country, because they mentioned their departure flight schedule is on next Monday of coming the Typhoon. (Reported by Nao)
Today we welcomed 13 guests from many countries. In Tokyo these days it had continued to rain, but today it was fine, very lucky for us. So,we could pleasantly advance the tour. We told them the history of the Sensoji temple with seeing some buildings ,sign boards and rules, manners of Shintoism and Buddhism with experiencing those. They were surprised to know the difference between Shintoism and Buddhism. Perhaps they could know a little bit of Japanese religion. Today in the Sensoji temple there was the special event ,that is “Kinryu- no- Mai” ,the golden dragon dance. This event has been held since 1958 as a commemoration of the reconstruction of the main hall. This dance performance comes from the myth where long years ago a gold dragon descended from the sky to protect the principal image. Anyway now we have 3 courses to guide you, the East Imperial Palace Garden, Asakusa, the Meiji -Shrine and Harajyuku. We are waiting for you. […]
Thank you very much for your participation in our tour on October 14. We had 49 guests exceeding our expectation in spite of somewhat drizzling weather. The guests were from North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa which were divided into four groups. I hope you could enjoy the moment with us and the exciting instant kimono afterwards. One of the pleasures of travel is eating delicious food. In Japan there are approximately 32,000 ramen noodle restaurants. Ramen is very popular and considered a national dish. I have never heard anyone who dislikes ramen. Eight most Tokyo’s representative ramen restaurants join each other in Tokyo Ramen Street in the Yaesu side exit(Basement level) of Tokyo Station. . The origin of ramen is not clear but ‘Rairaiken’ in Asakusa seems to have started in 1910. Before that all noodles are considered brought from China as ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for Lo-Mein and ramen developed in its unique way in Japan. So much for the history. Eight ramen restaurants at Tokyo Ramen Street compete each other and are proud of their tastes. The price is identical for about 1,000 yen. Each one has their own originality […]
Thank you very much for all our guests who joined “October 12, East Gardens of the Imperial Place Tour” We had 12 guests from Spain, Russia, USA, Australia, Italy and France. We divided them into 2 groups before our starting. It was a little hot day. We enjoyed the tour and we could feel the autumn. We imagined the autumn day of 300 years ago inside the East Gardens. In Japan, autumn is a nice season for traveling. Comfortable temperature, pleasant humidity, blue sky, huge harvest, delicious fruits, beautiful scenery of mountains, etc. TFWT’s regular tour of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace is held every Saturday 13:00-15:30. You are in Tokyo, please come and join our tour. We guides are always looking forward to seeing you. (posted by Keiko N.)
Thank you the guests who kindly joined our tour on 7th of October. We had 22 guests from nine countries, divided by four groups. Autumn has come here in Tokyo. It was very chilly day on Friday. On Saturday, it rained in the morning, but turned lovely day with sunshine in the afternoon. It was a best day for walking tour! I give you one good knowledge for visiting Japan in autumn. Everybody knows the cherry blossom flower (Sakura) in Japan bloom in spring, but do you know we can see it in autumn as well? It is called Jugatsu-zakura, which blooms in October. It blooms twice in a year, one in spring and one in autumn. Some article says Sakura originally bloomed in autumn and its DNA has gradually changed blooming in spring only. It means such Jugatsu-zakura keeps original character. We can see such Sakura in our tour, after entering the Otemon gate’s reception, near Sannomaru Museum. Recently we can smell a fragrant olive (Kinmokusei in Japanese). When we smell this, we recognize the autumn has come. I like it very much, not only the smell itself but also the language of the flower: noble, modesty, truth, first […]
・Date/Time : Thu. Oct. 12, 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 the guests joining our East garden of Imperial Palace tour on Sep. 30. It was cloudy. But it got fine at the beginning of tour and good condition. Summer has gone! We welcomed 45 guests from 13 countries. We divided into 6 groups and started from Tokyo station. Every group walked around Marunouchi area. During the tour in Marunouchi we saw some wedding ceremonies. Now Japan is the best season for wedding. There are a lot of wedding ceremonies in autumn. Speaking of autumn, in Japan we think autumn is a perfect season to have a good appetite. We call this “Autumn appetite.” The reasons are 1. Many ingredients come into season in autumn. 2. Japanese summer is terrible hot and wet. Japanese people intend to lose appetite in summer. 3. When it gets cool in autumn, people feel hungry. If you want to feel Japanese Autumn appetite, I strongly recommend to eat a “Sanma-Shioyaki” Sanma is a slender shaped fish which is called Pacific saury in English. Shioyaki is one of the cooking way to grill ingredients with salt. “Sanma -Shioyaki” means ” salted and grilled Pacific saury.” The best season of eating Sanma is autumn. Its nourishment reach a peak. […]
Many thanks for joining our tour in Asakusa on Set. 27. We welcomed three people from Argentina and Italy. Weather was fine and pretty comfortable. Asakusa Streets were crowded with people despite a weekday. Sensoji Temple is Tokyo’s oldest temple which attracts 30 million domestic and overseas visitors every year. The principal building is the main hall. It has been worshipped by many people for 1400 years and developed in spite of the repeated fires and destruction during WW2. The current building was reconstructed in 1958 after the war. Inside the hall the Buddhist statue, goddess of mercy is housed. Asakusa flourished thanks to this image. This is the treasure of the temple as well as Asakusa. The gold statue was discovered by the two fishermen in the nearby Sumida River and protected by the village chief about 1,400 years ago. It is officially unknown where it came from but we can say that Buddhism quickly penetrated into the country just about 70 years after it was introduced into Japan from India via China. Then a priest, founder of Sensoji Temple, Shokai Shonin built a Kannon-do Hall to enshrine the statue which later bacame Sensoji Temple. He decided as a […]
Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on September 24. It was lovely weather at the beginning of autumn. We welcomed seven friendly people from Britain, Mexico, Uruguay and Philippines. Nakamise shopping street was congested with people as usual. ‘Kappabashi Tool Street’ is known as Japan’s largest kitchen tool street. Annual festival will be held from Oct.6 until Oct.12. Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather,particularly during the holiday weekend with the events and parades. There are about 170 specialized shops and most of them will have a sale. Kitchen utensils will be available at reasonable prices. You may be able to find a bargain. The categories of products are everything needed by restaurants without fresh food. You will find specialized stores such as dishes, pans and plastic food samples. Plastic food samples of sushi and tempura look interesting, real and delicious. They are an ideal souvenir for tourists to buy. When you are tired, a fashionable cafe is available. ( Maiduru pro) The origin of the street is that several people started the second-hand tool shops in 1912. ‘Kappabashi’ is named after a merchant Kihachi ‘Kappa’ya(raincoat seller) who was engaged in the waterway project 200 […]
