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2019年7月

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A MUSICIAN IS BLESSED BY THE SUMIDA RIVER. Asakusa & Ueno, July 28

  • 2019.07.30

Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa and Ueno. On that day, July 28, we welcomed 9 guests on our walking tour. These people came from different corners of the world, including Australia, Colombia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippine and Spain. Recently, the Japan Meteorological Agency has announced the end of the rainy season in Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures in the Kanto region. This long-awaited report about the shift from rainy to summer season has inspired those people who are looking forward to finalizing their summer plans since they can now choose the perfect days for their travel and activities. On the morning of July 28, the temperature rose up to 30 degrees Celsius and reached the high of 32 degrees and more, during the early afternoon. This is the typical pattern of weather changes during the season called “tsuyuake toka”, which can literally be translated to “the ten days after the end of the rainy season”. During the tsuyuake toka, a mass of warm air prevails over the entire Japanese island. In effect, we have an immediately stable weather, characterized by humid climate and hot days, which normally lasts up to around two weeks. The warm […]

TOUR REPORT: THE EAST GARDENS OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE TOUR ON JULY 27, 2019

  • 2019.07.30

Thank you for joining our tour to the East garden of the Imperial Palace on July 27th. We welcomed total 14 guests from Russia(4), Korea(2), USA(3), Switzerland(1), Poland(2), UK(2). According to the weather forecast, it was a typhoon day, but little rain, and very scorching day. It was the Midsummer day of the Ox. Japanese eat eel to endure fatigue by summer heat and get energetic more. Originally, eel is seasonal food in winter, in Edo period, summer eel was thin and grilled eel sause was taste strong too much for eating in hot day. According to one theory, For sale eel more in summer, Hiraga Gennai was consulted by eel restaurant owner, and adviced to write on the sign board catch phrase as “ It’s the Midsummer day of the Ox! “ . They explain eating eel is good to prevent fatigue by summer heat to customers. So the habit spread to throughout Japan. However that, farmed eel controlled emvironment of temperature. And we can eat delicious eel independent season. Infront of Tokyo station, Tokyo Olympic countdown clock was placed, Please come again to enjoy Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020! Thank you everyone for sharing marvelous time together.

Explore exquisite Ueno Park on July 28

  • 2019.07.27

  July 28 is the day for the walking tour at Ueno Park with Tokyo Free Walking Tour. You walk past the various attractive museums representing the Japan’s largest Tokyo National Museum and the 400-year-old gorgeous Shinto shrine, Buddhist temple and the charming five-storied wooden pagoda. In addition, you will learn about the historic civil wars which accelerated the modernization of Japan. There are a lot of other interesting sites and spots together with the stories behind them.   Shinobazu Pond, part of Ueno Park is famous for the flowering lotus leaves in summer. You will have so much fun you forget about the time. Lotus flowers reach blooming peak from now and thru August, but blossoming time is just in the morning. The flowers fade around noon. You need to wake up early in the morning if you would like to see them. Louts leaves grow in muddy water and are regarded as a symbol of purity in Buddhism. Discover nature and culture with us at Ueno Park. We offer the unique experience with the amazing guides. The tour takes about two hours. This is a free tour. No fee or reservation needed and just turn up between Park […]

Who drunk the liquer of the sake barrals? : Meiji-Jingu and Harajuku Tour on Jul 21th

  • 2019.07.22

Thanks to all of our guests energetic enough to plunge into the miracle forest  this morning. We could welcome 16 guests from U.S.A., CZECH, FRANCE,  MALAYSIA, INDIA. This year,  the rainy season is lasting very long.  The temperature for this day, did not go up so high so we could spend the day without sunbisers and suntans. It was a little bit humid but strolling around the precinct and Harajuku area including Takeshita-street was rather comfortable under a thick thick sky!!  It means that no matter what the weather was alike, we ourselves really enjoyed the time we could spend with you!! We just wish all of your  trips would  last  safe and  top memorial. We still have 4 left tours in this month. — 1 tour  to East Gardens of the Imperial Palace,  2  tours to Asakusa and  1 tour  to Ueno Park. We hope our tours could fit your schedule somewhere.  Please check our tour calendar  and we  look forward meeting you!! (posted by Nori)    

THE EAST GARDENS OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE TOUR ON JULY 20, 2019

  • 2019.07.22

Thank you for joining our tour visiting the Imperial Palace East Gardens on July 20th. We welcomed 16 guests from U.S.A., Argentina, Singapore and India. We divided the guests and guides into 3 groups and started the tours respectively.This time in Japan, rainy seasons usually pass, but this year we are still in the rainy season. It’s hot and humid. What a long rainy season! Fortunately we took only a light shower during the tour so we didn’t need an umbrella. After the rainy season, we enjoy fireworks displays throughout the country. Some famous ones in Tokyo are Sumida(July 27), Koto(Aug. 1) and Edogawa(Aug. 3). The 8th shogun, Yoshimunu, started the Sumida river fireworks display about 280 years ago in order to comfort the deceased due to a large-scale famine.  (posted by N)

Tour report on July 17th(Weekday tour of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace)

  • 2019.07.20

  Thank you for coming our weekday tour of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. We welcomed 14 guests from France, UK, USA, and Mexico. We divided the guests into 3 groups and started tour respectively. Unfortunately a half of the main castle building area was closed because of preparing the Daijyosai (one of the ceremony of the Imperial inheritance). But we enjoyed the tour of that day! Last Wednesday was cloudy and so humid. But we didn’t need to use umbrellas. It was so lucky in this rainy season. We also welcomed two kid guests. They challenged charm hunting tour with their parents during the tour. They completed their mission of charm hunting tour. Congratulations! By the way, do you know that Japanese like to feel the exact season? Especially in Cha-do “Japanese tea ceremony” it is said that to show the seasonal atmosphere a little ahead of the season using the various tools like flowers, hanging scrolls, flower vases, and bowls for the tea is very important. In addition, ahead of the season is well, but delay of the season is not good. It is so important for Cha-do to match exact season or to take ahead […]

LAST MINUTES “TSU YU” EXPERIENCE :   JULY 14th ASAKUSA & UENO TOUR

  • 2019.07.15

We  Tokyo-Free-Walking-Tour welcomed cumulative total number of 17 guests from Spain(6), UK(3), Canada(2), Austria(2), Germany(2) and France(2) to Asakusa morning / afternoon tour & Ueno Park tour held on July 14th Sunday.  We appreciate a lot for all of the guests joining our tours and would like to express special thanks to the guests who joined plural tours of us!! Above mentioned each area has their own unique history and traditional culture.  We have been expanding our activity from East Garden of Imperial Palace to the other areas and now we came to cover total four tours in Tokyo as shown in the map.   As you can see, Asakusa and Ueno Park are just near by which enables efficient combination.  We hope all of guests had memorable experience at our tours. We have now a special plan of Weekday tour on coming July 17th at East Garden of Imperial Palace.  Please check “tour calendar” of this site for detail.     By the way, now is still in “Tsu Yu” or rainy season in Japan.   The day was light rainy day, unfortunately.   However, good point is, this level of rain sometimes makes young green leaves more brilliant and […]

MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER IN TOKYO SUMMER: THE EAST GARDENS OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE TOUR ON JULY 13, 2019

  • 2019.07.13

Thank you for joining our tour to the East garden of the Imperial Palace on July 13th. We welcomed worldwide 12 guests from Philippine, UK, France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Finland. Divided into 3 groups with a few guides respectively. The weather was not so bad for the rainy season. Cloudy and little rain in the last minutes of the tour. 27℃ (81℉), gentle wind but very humid. We really appreciate all guest for sharing your precious time together and enjoyed our tour with the guests. Our tour explores Japanese modernization after middle of 19th and goes into the former Edo castle area (now the east gardens of Imperial palace). We had a pleasant conversation with our guest today, too. Sometimes a question from a guest brings us awareness. I love such exchanges very much. In the gardens, the preparation of the Great Thanks Giving ceremony by new Emperor, so called “DAIJOSAI” in Japanese, on Nov. 14th and 15th, is on going. A restricted access area is beginning to emerge in the preparation. However, don’t worry, we carefully select the places where we can enter in and strive to provide a satisfying tour. In Tokyo, the rainy season still continues, […]

Quintessential Ueno Park Tour on July 14 at 1:30pm

  • 2019.07.13

Welcome to Tokyo Free Walking Tour! We offer the four different walking tours in Tokyo and Ueno Park is the latest tour. Our tour is operated by the volunteer guides but all of them have unrivaled knowledge and experiences with some jokes. Since the tour usually has small groups of people, you will enjoy an intimate atmosphere with us and we won’t give boring lectures. Ueno Park is about 140 years old and was indeed the family temple of the ruling Tokugawa clan in the feudal period. Take a walk through the Park in the heart of Tokyo for about two hours and experience the fascinating nature, entertaining history, classical and modern architectures along with others. You may be able to hear something or a behind-the-scenes story you won’t find yourself. There is no admission fee. You don’t have to book in advance and just turn up at the meeting place between Park Exit of JR Ueno Station and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan at 1:30pm tomorrow (Sunday July 14). It is accessible from Tokyo Metro and Keisei Ueno Stations as well. Incidentally Asakusa is a nearby town and you could join our Sensoji Temple tour at 10am and continue to come […]

July 7 Meijijinngu and Harajuku tour: It rained here How was it at the Milky Way?

  • 2019.07.08

Today it rained continuously during the tour and we felt chilly for the month of July. Despite the weather we could welcome 11 guests at the starting point, the first Torii gate of the Meijijingu shrine. All the guests were from USA except for a guest from Germany. We divided the guests into four small groups, 2 or 3 guests for each, so that our guides could be as attentive as possible to each individual guest.   The shrine’s inner garden and the Takeshita-dori Street seemed to be a little bit less crowded than usual. That was good for us as we always held umbrellas during the tour. Meijijingu shrine: Harajuku  Takeshita-dori Street: We noticed a bamboo ornament for Tanabata festival at the Shrine gate and another at Takeshita-dori. Tanabata(七夕) festival, held on the 7th day of the 7th month, is one of the traditional five seasonal festivals. In the summer night sky you can see two bright stars, Vega and Altair, facing each other at the opposite side of the Milky Way. According to the legendary tale, Orihime-star(Weaving Princess, Vega) and Hikoboshi-star(Cowherd, Altair) once got married but were separated by the God of Heaven for some reason. After that […]