Many thanks for joining us on our tour of the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace in the morning on April 16. We welcomed 20 guests from Italy, Canada, Germany, Lithuania, Morocco, Australia, and Taiwan. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from all over the world and to share interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun we had during the tour. Group A Group B Group C Somei Yoshino, a cherry variety said to account for 80% of Japan’s cherry blossoms, have already passed their prime, but other types of cherry trees continue to welcome us in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. The yellowish-green cherry trees are called Ukon or Gyoiko. The double-flowered cherry trees, such as Kanzan, have plump pink flowers, which makes me hungry for Sakuramochi (Cherry-flavored mochi wrapped in cherry leaves). In the Ninomaru Garden, Kurume-tsutsuji azaleas are blooming beautifully. The striking dark pink color brightens our hearts. If you like azaleas, Nezu Shrine is also recommended. Azaleas of various colors are arranged on the slope and are gorgeous.The irises, another symbolic flower of Ninomaru Garden, are still in buds, […]
Many thanks for joining our tours at Asakusa and Ueno Park on April 14, 2024. We welcomed 24 guests from Canada, Germany, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, India, Spain, and Switzerland. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and share interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun times we had during the tour. <Asakusa> We encountered Shirasagi no Mai (White Heron Dance) during our tour of Asakusa. This ceremony can be seen on the second Sunday of April and the 3rd of November (Culture Day). Originating from the Gion Festival at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, it has been dedicated for more than 1,000 years to ward off evil spirits. The dance was revived in 1652 by the Asakusa Tourism Federation as a commemorative event for Tokyo’s 100 anniversary in 1968. <Ueno Park> Although most of the cherry blossoms have fallen due to rain and wind, many people were enjoying parties under the trees. The festival of the peony garden, held until the beginning of May at the Ueno Toshogu, is worth visiting. The admission fee is 1,000 Yen. As you may know, the beginning […]
Many thanks for joining us on our tour at the East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Apr. 13th. We welcomed 23 guests from UK, USA, Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Australia, Switzerland, Spain and Germany. Meeting incredible individuals from various corners of the globe and exchanging cultural insights presented us with an invaluable opportunity. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our guests for graciously sharing their time and enriching our experience with engaging conversations. As pledged, we have included group photos and snapshots for you to reminisce about the enjoyable moments we shared during the tour. We trust that you derived as much pleasure from the tour as we did. (GroupA) It was a lovely day to visit the exquisite garden and admire the flowers. The cherry blossoms (Sakura) at the East Garden were in full bloom, and vibrant flowers adorned the surroundings, welcoming guests who had come to Japan for their honeymoon. These flowers were likely to add to their celebration as well. (GroupB) We always strive to give high-quality tours. Your feedback is especially important and useful to us. If you have a moment, please consider posting comments about the tour on our TripAdvisor /Facebook etc. (GroupC) […]
Thank you so much for joining our tour in Asakusa on April 9 . The tour was held in such bad weather, nevertheless two guests kindly joined our tour from America. We hope you enjoyed walking with us and viewing cherry blossoms in spite of the poor weather. Although the cherry blossoms have just started to fall at Sensoji Temple grounds, they are still beautiful. The photos which we took during the tour are posted. Sensoji Temple is Tokyo’s oldest temple and has a 1,400-year history. Asakusa was the liveliest town in Edo currently Tokyo from the Edo period (1603-1868) to the Meiji period (1868-1912). There are many firsts in Asakusa. As you walked through toward the temple’s Main Hall, there is the Nakamise Shopping Street which sells a variety of traditional souvenirs and snacks. The street was built about 300 years ago as one of the first shopping streets in Japan. Local people were allowed to open their shops along the street in exchange for cleaning the temple grounds. Hanayashiki behind the Main Hall is Japan’s first amusement park. It was established as old as about 170 years ago. There are many vintage looking attractions in operation for a […]
Thank you to those who participated in the Tokyo Free Walking Tour (TFWT) at Meiji Shrine & Harajuku. Today was such a perfect day for walking under the evergreen trees of the Meiji Shrine forest and finally Sakura in Tokyo is in full bloom. We welcomed 6 guests from Brazil, Mexico and the Principality of Monaco. We hope you all enjoyed and shared interesting and joyful conversations with each other during the tour. The Meiji Jingu enshrines Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, and April 11 is the 110th anniversary of her passing. Prior to that day, the exhibition: A Ceremonial Court Dress of Empress Shoken, has just begun on April 6 and her oldest full court dress is open to the public at Meiji Jingu Museum. According to the website, this big project of researching and repairing the dress started in 2018 with a lot of researchers, artisans, and experts from various countries and different areas of expertise involved. The passion of this project resembles that of the time when the Meiji Jingu was built 100 years ago. Those days, 100,000 trees from all over the country were donated to the shrine, and 110,000 young volunteers planted them. Why don’t […]
Many thanks for joining us on our tour at the East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Apr. 6th. We welcomed 16 guests from UK, USA, Italy, Canada, Israel, UAE, Brazil and Australia. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful people from all over the world and exchange the cultural information. We really appreciate all guest for sharing precious time and inspiring us with interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun we had during the tour. I hope you enjoyed out tour as we did very much. (Group A) (Group B) (Group C) (Group D) (Group E) It was a morning tour today, so it was a little chilly at the start of the tour, but as the tour progressed, we gradually warmed up and had a lively conversation with the guests.The cherry blossoms (Sakura) at the East Garden were in full bloom, and clouds of flowers seemed to be floating everywhere, and both guests and guides thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. Sakura are in full bloom all over the city, and the illuminations at night are a must-see.However, the full bloom of Sakura does not last long. […]
Thank you very much for participating in the Ueno Park Tour held on April 3rd!! We welcomed 17 Guests including three children from USA, England, India, Argentina, Germany and Brazil. Cherry blossoms, which are the most attractive feature of Ueno Park of this season, has been approaching full bloom by warm weather of the past few days. The timing of the tour was good for us. The weather was so called “Hana-gumori” or Cherry blossom cloudy at the beginning of the tour, but started to rain toward the end of tour despite our wish. The rain brought us a little inconvenience, but we really hope all of you had enjoyed the tour with us on the day. As promised, group photos and snapshots of the Tour are posted below. We hope you will be able to remember the tour with these photos!! Group A Group B Group C Some may have heard the following story by Yoshi during our tour, but please let me mention a little about the mysterious story of cherry blossoms. Around 1,000 of Cherry blossoms trees with more than 50 species are planted in Ueno Park. Among these, 80% belongs to […]
Thank you so much for joining us on our tours at Asakusa and Ueno Park on March, 2024. We welcomed 62 guests from the US, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, India, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Romania and Argentina. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and to share interesting conversations. Also, it was really nice seeing some of you in both tours. As we have announced, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun we had during the tour. [ASAKUSA] Today we hold the morning tour and the afternoon tour at Asakusa. All of the guides felt so happy having many guests not only already booked ones but also dropped in at that time. [UENO] Perhaps because the first half of March this year was very cold like back to winter compared to last year, the blooming of cherry blossoms was very late rather than last year. And now, finally, the long-awaited our spring with full-blooming cherry blossom has come! Thank you for your waiting!! Today, the pretty good weather weekend, there were so many people enjoyed having picnic under the tree even though it was just started to bloom […]
Spring has come!Cherry blossoms are in full bloom soon！ We had a pleasant Saturday afternoon tour with more than 40 guests from the US,Canada, Italy, Australia, Israel, Croatia, UK. and Argentine. Thank you all for joining our tour!We hope all of you enjoyed and shared interesting conversations with us during the tour.As promised, group photos are attached to remember the fun times we had. We always strive to give high-quality tours. Your feedback is very important and useful tous. If you have a moment, please consider posting comments about tours on TripAdvisor /Facebook, etc. Also, please tell your family and friends about us. Next time you’re inTokyo, please come to another one of our tours. Once again thank you very much. Formore information about our tour, please visit our website at https://tfwt.jp/top/east-gardens-of-the-imperial-palace/, https://www.facebook.com/TokyoFWT or Tokyo FreeWalking Tour at https://www.tripadvisor.jp/. (Posted by Takaori)
Thank you so much for joining our tour in Asakusa on March 27. We welcomed as many as 26 people from Canada, America, Argentina, Germany, Israel and Australia. It was a nice spring weather. Anticipated Cherry blossoms haven’t started to flower yet at the Sensoji Temple grounds. Perhaps, the unusual weather conditions may have delayed cherry blossoms. Temperatures are expected to rise for the next days and cherry blossoms will bloom very soon. The Nakamise Shopping Street was very crowded with people. The photos which we took during the tour were posted. Happy 90th birthday to Elizabeth! Turning 90 is incredible milestone. We hope you have a lovely time and enjoy cherry blossoms in Japan. Komagatado Hall is the birthplace of Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. It’s a small vermillion temple located four minute-walk straight to the south of Kaminarimon gate (opposite direction of the Main Hall) beside the Sumida River. Sometimes, you may skip small temples or shrines and regret later,’ I should have visited the place’. It isn’t famous and crowded like the Nakamise or the Main Hall as everyone wants to visit, but this is exactly the place to visit. The principal image(Goddess of Mercy) of Sensoji Temple […]
