We welcomed 72 guests from all around of the world on April 15. We divided the guests into 7 groups and started our tour at 1:00 pm from Tokyo station. The following are the group pictures. . It was cloudy warm day and it was almost end of cherry blossom season but a few flowers remained. There were many kinds of flowers in the park not only cherry blossom but also Thunb(Iris japonica) and azalea and more. Cherry blossoms are No1 flower for most of Japanese even it is over the full blossom. We wait for cherry blossoms blooming,enjoy for very short time,look a shower of cherry blossoms,and look foword to next year’s cherry blossoms. We must be anxious about cherry blossom would be fallen by heavy rain or strong wind during flower blooming. There is a poem written in ninth-century in Japan. If it were not for Cherry blossoms in the world, How peaceful and calm The heart in spring could be! Thanks to all the guests for joining and having good time with us. Please enjoy JAPAN and please enjoy the next cherry blossoms if you have a chance. We have […]
Thank you to all the wonderful guests who joined our tour on April 8. Although it was not a perfect day to go out for a walk (it was cloudy and we had some drizzles here and there), we welcomed almost 100 guests from all around the world. The cherry blossoms in the East Gardens of the Imperial palace were in full bloom, and many people were taking pictures of the beautiful pink flowers. It will be all gone soon, so if you are still in Japan, you must hurry! In our group, we had two boys as guests.They were having fun playing Pokemon Go during the tour. (There are quite a few pokestops in the East Gardens, so if you are playing it, this is the place you should go!) We talked about the pokemon we can only find in Japan called Kamonegi, in English Farfetch’d. They had not caught it yet, but I hope they can during their stay in Japan. Soon, spring will be over and the rainy season, in Japan we call it “tsuyu（梅雨）”, will come. After tsuyu, the hot and humid summer will arrive. Even though the cherry blossoms will pretty soon be […]
We held a weekday tour for this day. Sunny and warm, a little bit windy, but the climate was just splendid to stroll around the peak season of the cherry blossom! We welcomed 28 guests from the U.S.A., Canada, Chile, France, Slovakia, Malaysia, and made 4 groups to go on for the walk. One of our French guests told us that they came to Japan to enjoy their honeymoon. They very much wanted to come at at the Cherry Blossom season. Once we heard that, all of the guests in our group started celebrating them. How pleased we were to hear such good news and how proud we felt to be included as a piece of memory of their treasured trip !! Even the cherry blossoms seemed to say “Happy Wedding!! ” for them too! Usually the Honmaru area is a quiet area but at this time of year, it is very lively! This day, especially near the cherry blossom trees , we could see unusual scenes. Company directors taking a group photo, people sitting on the lawn and chatting, businessmen bringing their lunch-box enjoying their meal in a circle .(Yes, this area is near a business district called Marunouchi) […]
Thank you for all the guests kindly joining our regular tour on April 1. We had no less than 89 guests from 20 countries, and 16 volunteer guides. We divided into 6 groups and enjoyed the tour. It was a cold day. I don’t believe it was April. And we had a light rainfall but I could walk without an umbrella. Usually it’s time when cherry blossoms were in full bloom, especially Somei-Yoshino cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Somei-Yoshino cherry is a kind of cherry trees and is the most popular in Japan. The Somei-Yoshino cherry tree is hybrid of Edo-Higan and Ooshima cherry trees invented by the people living in Somei village in Edo in the late Edo period. The Somei-Yoshino cherry blossoms in The Imperial Palace East Garden are in only 30% bloom. I see it had been cold in March. Still we are looking forward to blooms of cherry blossoms. But there are white cherry blossoms which are in full bloom. (I’m sorry I don’t know the name of the kind of this cherry tree.) Most of the guests were takeing a lot of pictures.
We thank many guests from all over the world. On that day we welcomed 50 people from U.K., USA, Deutschland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel, Canada, Chiles, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, France and Mexico. We divide into 7 groups. The weather was fine but cold despite the season. According to the calender, winter has already finished and it is turning to spring. This tour was actually last tour in Japan’s fiscal year of 2016, which began in April of 2016. March is closing month of fiscal year. Businesses change terms and human resources in this month. In schools graduation ceremonies are held. Young women in kimono with long skirt, called Hakama walked on streets in the city. They attended graduation ceremony of their colleges. One of occasions modern Japanese wear kimono. In the East Garden, cherry-blossoms are yet to bloom. In truly spring time, we can view beautiful full-bloom of cherry blossom trees from the turf in the garden. But in the feudal time, the turf area was occupied by wooden-house compound, called Honmaru. It was the castle building for Tokugawa Shogunate (governance by the master of all Samurai lords in Japan, actual ruler appointed and entrusted by Emperor). Now no remains of the castle stand but stone […]
Thank you for joining our tour. Although it is irregular and suddenly arranged, we could have 16 guests from Europe,America,Asia and the southern hemisphere. In this season, some flowers begin to bloom in our Imperial palace site. Let me show you my favorite one. It is called Mitsumata in Japanese, just blooming now. To our interest, it is raw material of Japanese paper bill. And more, Mitsumata means three branched in our language. You can see it is really branched into three from the photo below ! We always try to introduce you our seasonal natures and topics in the TFWT tour. Why don’t you come and join us, don’t miss it !!
Today we welcomed 9 guests from many countries. Today Tokyo district was warm and very comfortable to walk. 2 weeks later cherry blossoms will be in full bloom. On that day,too, Asakusa was very crowded. So our guests could feel vigorous downtown atmosphere while walking. I’m sorry the 5 story pagoda is under repairing. So guests could ‘t see the real one. We showed them its picture. We also explained rules and manners of Buddhism and Shintoism before praying. They seemed to be interested in Japanese religions. We finished our tour at am 10:40. Thank you for joining our tour today. Please join our tour . We always wait for you. (posted by Masahiko-Sato)
Thank you all for joining our tour! We had a pleasant Saturday afternoon tour with close to 50 guests. With the cherry blossom season not far, it will soon be the busiest time for our walking tour. === Around the Ninomaru Gardens I mentioned how the “koi” or the carp is liked in Japan, to the extent that there is a professional baseball team named after them. Baseball, as you may know, is one of the most popular professional sports here in Japan. Currently there are two major baseball events going on. One is the World Baseball Classic, once-in-four-year tournament competed among national teams from 16 countries. Japan has prevailed in the first two tournaments but not in the last, so people are very anxious to see the team to become champions again. Then there is the national high school tournament. It is held twice each year, and the spring tournament has just started this week. One reason it is so popular may be that the games are played by high schools representing each prefecture – some people seem to associate themselves with the teams from their hometowns and talk about them a lot. So these events will keep the headlines busy for […]
We thank many guests joining the tour. On that day we welcomed 32 guests from Germany, USA, U.K., Canada, Argentina, Chile, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea and India. We divided into 5 groups. It was a mild spring day. The temperature is getting higher these days. During the tour, in the East Garden, formerly a castle of Tokugawa Shogun, guests view mainly outerior of the exhibited buildings. We go outside all the way. So warmer climate is good for us. However, there is one facility that guests can enter inside. It is called Fujimitamon. It is located on periphery of the East Garden, and functioned as a defense house. It is high above the surrouding moat. Guards in those days monitored surrounding areas from the windows of the house. When one is getting in, taking off shoes is requested. That was lifestyle of the Samurai feudal era. Even in public place like guard house, taking off shoes and sitting down on floor was required. In modern time taking off shoes in private residencial space is required. Inside one can find more of customs of that era. No window glasses but stone grids and wooden shutters. From there the roof of imperial palace can […]
What a perfect saturday it was to go out for a walk!! Blue blue sky, cool air with warm sun, early cherry blossoms and good smell of the plum tree, ducks swimming in the moat…spring should be very close now. We were delighted to welcome 35 guests from Brazil, Australia, Israel, U.S.A., Spain, Germany, Canada, Singapore, U.K.,China to stroll around the east garden. We made 4 groups for this day. During our tour, one group of our guests brought us the following questions; ” Why does the stone wall has a pitch”?(Like the photo) Now, I’d like to appreciate our smart guests to bring this issue !! This issue is extra hot for me too now. I went to Matsuyama-castle(in Ehime-prefecture) and Himeji-castle(in Hyogo-prefecture) last weekend and the “curving” stone walls drew me extra attention, so as our guests!! Going up higher, The pitch of the stone wall becomes steeper and curves. It’s shape is similar to an ougi(=sensu, a folding fan)when opened. So this curve is called “ougi-no-kobai”or”Fan curve of the stone wall”. The higher the wall becomes, the pressure inside the stone wall increases. This may make the stone wall easy to collapse down. To ensure that a […]
