WE ARE BACK!!! Reserve your spot in our next tour from our new Tour Calendar!

2019年11月

The Greater Gate at Sensoji Temple (Asakusa and Ueno Park tour on November 24)

  • 2019.11.25

Thank you so much for choosing our tours in Asakusa and Ueno Park on November 24. We had 26 visitors from Sweden, UK, Ireland, Italy, Canada, America, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. I hope you enjoyed walking with us and particularly  appreciate the fact that some of you consecutively joined our tours for two days.   You might have seen a big gate in front of the Sensoji Temple Main Hall. Hozomon Gate is larger and more spectacular than the famous Kaminarimon Gate at the entrance. The upper level houses the complete Buddhist scriptures and on the lower level a pair of wooden statues of guardian deities of Buddha opening and closing each mouth symbolizes the beginning and end of all things in Buddhism. On the back of the gate is a pair of ‘waraji’, massive sandals made of rice straw ropes. As waraji reflects the power of the guardian deities in front, evils quickly run away knowing that the wearer of the sandals protects the temple. I really appreciate your participation in our tours and hopefully look forward to seeing you at another one of our tours in case you come back to Tokyo. . (posted by Yoshi)

A GOOD DAY IN THE EAST GARDEN OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE (23rd November)

  • 2019.11.25

Thank  you  for  joining  our  tour  visiting  the  East  Garden  of  the  Imperial  Palace on  November 23rd.   We  welcomed  as  many  as  15 people  from  U.S.A.,  Malaysia,  Spain,  UK,  and  Canada.  Being  a  little  bit   late,   leaves  of  Tokyo  area  begin  to  color  to  yellow  and  red.     Although   we  had   rain   which   is   rare  in  this  season,  scenery  of  these  colored  trees  matches  modern  buildings  and   remains  of  old  Edo  castle  (stone  wall  and  moat  etc)  very  well. The  circumference  of   Edo  castle  is  said  to  be  6  kilometers   and  all   surrounded   by  stone  walls  and   moats,   and   these  remains   of   the  huge  castle  can  be  seen  in  many  places  near  Imperial    Palace. We   could  enjoy   these  harmonized  scenery  from  the  beginning to  the  end  of   our  tour.   Every time it is a great pleasure for us to welcome foreign guests, and guide this tour. We were very happy having been with our guests. With Tokyo Olimpic games 2020 in next year, all Japanese country are making strong efforts to welcome foreign guests. We appreciate again, and hope all of our guests will have wonderful memories. (posted by Shino.) For more information about our tour, please visit our […]

Shinto ceremony, colorful leafs, Imperial Palace and East Garden is dramatically changing day by day!! Nov.20, weekday tour

  • 2019.11.21

Many many thanks to our guests joining our weekday tour this day. It was a chilly, windy morning but we were so delighted to welcome 10 guests from U.S.A, U.K, Germany, Ireland, Holland and Australia. We could explore the East Garden with newly dressy autumn colored trees in bright yellow. slighty red, and time just flew with a lot of talks with our amazing guests. I guess this day was the last day we could enjoy the garden in a “peaceful atmosphere”for a while…since from the next day(Nov.21-Dec.8), the “Daijyo-kyu” located on the upper area of the East Garden was to be opened to the public and  lots and lots of people may be visiting the East Garden for 18 days. If you would like to know more about this Daijyo-Sai, or if you are to go to see this special building at the East Garden of the Imperial House, I recommend you to go to the exhibition held at Kokugakuin-University Museum in Shibuya. The name of the special exhibition is exactly “Daijosai”and is open till Dec.15. They try to offer Japanese/English explanation  for this special exhibition which may help you to understand a liitle bit more about this top […]

Shichi-Go-San, chrysanthemum and wedding at Meiji Shrine (November 17)

  • 2019.11.18

On behalf of our guides I just wanted to send a quick report to say thank you for coming along to our tour to Meiji Shrine and Harajuku on November 17. We welcomed 13 people from America, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland, Israel and Australia. I hope all of you enjoyed yourselves in the absolutely wonderful weather. We were fascinated by the cute children in pretty dresses of Shichi-Go-San celebration at the ages of three-and seven-year-old girls and five-year-old boys. The display of the beautiful chrysanthemum flowers was to celebrate the autumn festival of the shrine.Those flowers were dedicaded by the chrysanthemum groups. Luckily, we could see the processions of wedding ceremonies. Now it’s the peak of the wedding season and 17 couples got married at Meiji Shrine on that day. A new couple married every half an hour! I really appreciate everyone who joined our tour and shared with us an interesting conversation. Please tell your family and friends about us and if you come back to Tokyo, by any chance, come to another one of our tours! Once again thank you very much. (Posted by Yoshi)

Tour Report on Nov.16th (tour of The East Garden of the Imperial Palace)

  • 2019.11.18

Thank you for joining our tour of The East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Nov.16th. We had 24 guests. They were from Argentine (1), Australia (2), Brazil (2), Colombia (3), Indonesia (1), Philippine (1), Singapore (3), Taiwan (2) and U.S.A. (10) . It was a sunny and warm day.  Our guests enjoyed walking and taking pictures of historic sites in the autumnal garden. From Nov.14th evening to 15th dawn, the Great Thanksgiving festival called “Daijo-sai”  was taken place at the Honmaru site in The East Garden of the Imperial Palace. This was a ritual of the first offering of rice by the newly-enthrone Emperor. The ceremony is performed once in his reign based on the traditional form of the imperial family since late 7th century. The ritual was exclusively performed by the Emperor with few maidens at the newly built shrine in the garden. The Emperor offered rice and foods to his ancestors, and also  prayed for the peace of the nation and thanked Gods for the rich harvest. The Imperial Household Agency is announcing that this shrine will be opened to the public from Nov.21st to Dec. 8th . Why not coming to The East Garden of the […]

AUSPICIOUS AUTUMN DAY : ASAKUSA & UENO PARK TOUR ON NOV.10th

  • 2019.11.12

We  Tokyo-Free-Walking-Tour welcomed cumulative total number of 17 guests from UK(6), Canada(2), Spain(2), Argentine(2), Singapore(2), Columbia(1), Germany(1) and India(1) to Asakusa morning / afternoon tour & Ueno Park tour held on Nov. 10th 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.    And also, we hope everyone enjoyed our tours! The day was full of bright sunlight and comfortable temperature.  It was lucky for us that we could encounter some family with boys and girls wearing cute “Kimono” in Asakusa area.   Middle of November is the timing of  “Shichi-go-san” which celebrate the growth of children.   Boys aged five and girls aged three and seven are the ages celebrating “Shichi-go-san” or “Seven-Five-Three” ceremony. Especially, the day was the very best day to hold celebration called “Tai-an-kichi-jitsu”,which is one of the six special days in the Japanese lunisolar calendar, very auspicious day for all types of occasions.     There is an additional heart warming topic I really want to mention when talking about this day.   That is,  the parade of newly enthroned Emperor and Empress starting from […]

Tour Report of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Nov 9th : Perfect fall season tour with beautiful natures.

  • 2019.11.10

Thank you for joining our tour to the East garden of the Imperial Palace on Nov 9th. The weather was just perfect for a walking tour with typical fall blue sky and clean air in Japan, 17℃/63℉, no wind. We welcomed 27 guests from Argentina, Luxembourg, Lithuania, U.K., Columbia, Germany, Singapore, U.S.A., Netherlands and Romania. The tour was run by 3 groups with a few guides. This day, our tour course was forced a bit irregular because of National Festival to celebrate the throne of the new Emperor in addition to the fact that a part of The East Garden of the Imperial Palace was as banned in preparation for Grand Ceremony by new Emperor on Nov 14th and 15th. Even so, we had a lot of conversations with our guests while visiting the historical buildings of modern Japan and the ruins of Edo Castle, watching the deeper autumn gardens and flowers. One guest found a cherry blossom blooming at this season and told us. I believe all our guests enjoyed the tour, too. There is Wadakura Bridge over a mort in the middle of our tour. The east side of the moat on the south side from this bridge […]

Tour Report of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Nov., 2; Come and Get to Know Japan through TFWT Tour

  • 2019.11.04

Welcoming 11 guests from various countries; Argentina(2), Australia(1), Canada(1), Germany(2), Singapore(2), Spain(2), Ukraine(1), we have held the tour to the East Garden of the Imperial Palace in 4 groups.  It was relatively a small number guests today regardless of the good weather in the good season. But each group enjoyed the tour with a lot of free talks in between the guide spots.  We appreciate all the guests for choosing Tokyo Free Walking Tour.  We hope your safe trips for the rest of your stay and back to your homes. Now that Rugby World Cup 2019 has ended, the national events to come are the Emperor’s enthronement celebration parade on November 10, and the grand thanksgiving rite on November 14 and 15 (the rite on 15th is schedule to start at midnight).  It is called Daijosai in Japanese, or the first ceremonial offering of rice by newly-enthroned Emperor. The facilities for the ritual are now under construction in Honmaru area which is the main ground of the East Garden, or former Edo Castle.  As the area is closed from November 1 to December 13 except for the period between Nov., 21 and Dec., 8 for opening to public, our tour […]

Tour report on Autumn Grand Festival, Culture Day and Meiji Emperor’s birthday, 3 November 2019

  • 2019.11.04

Many thanks to 6 guests participating in the tour to Meiji Jingu shrine and Harajuku town on this day. Our guests came from Switzerland, Singapore and Australia. We divided into 3 groups. The weather was mild but partly cloudy. That day was a national holiday, called Culture Day since 1946 as a proclamation day of current Japan’s constitution. The current constitution ensures that all people have basic needs in life and enjoy healthy and cultural life, so culture is a key element in Japan’s modern life. But that day had been a national holiday even before 1946, as Meiji Emperor’s birthday. Meiji Jingu Shrine is where Meiji Emperor who reigned over Japan between 1868 and 1912, is enshrined as a god. At the Meiji Jingu Shrine, there held an annual event, called Autumn Grand Festival to worship the late Emperor. Imperial messengers came and showed procession wearing old time costume that attracted many tourists. Then visitors could enjoy exhibition of chrysanthemums, Ikebana (traditional flower arrangement), Japanese drum and flute performance, and etc. This suits the purpose of Culture Day, on which Meiji Emperor placed importance. Meiji Emperor not only respects tradition but also foreign cultures to modernize Japan. That aspect […]