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)
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tokyo Free Walking Tour appreciate your participation in our tours in Asakusa and Ueno Park on October 27. 25 guests kindly joined from Lithuania, Ireland, Israel, Canada, America, Columbia, Argentina, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Pakistan. Weather was perfect conditions in the light of deepening autumn. We saw a number of the rugby fans and beautiful chrysanthemum display at Asakusa Sensoji Temple and the breathtaking performing arts at Ueno Park. I hope all of you enjoyed walking with us. Shitamachi( literally downtown) Museum is located on the shores of Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park and dedicated to the traditional culture of the old environments and buildings. The museum reproduces the lifestyle of the common people in Tokyo in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods in 1900s. This museum was established about 40 years ago to pass down the culture of the good old days to the next generations. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and WWⅡ devastated many towns in Tokyo and changed behavior of the people. However, postwar reconstruction process brought modernization and growth. On the other hand, good old culture of the town disappeared as time passed. 1st Floor re-creates the townscape in the 1910s to 1920s. The large […]
With 16 guests from various countries; Argentina(2), Canada(2), Germany(2), Ireland(2), Israel(1), New Zealand(1), Philippines(4), US(2), we have held the tour to the East Garden of the Imperial Palace in 3 groups. We appreciate all of the guests for choosing Tokyo Free Walking Tour among many other guided tours in Tokyo. We hope your safe trips for the rest of your stay and back to your homes. Rugby World Cup is almost ending with the third place play off on Nov.1 and the final match on November 2. For the enthusiastic fans, I am sure the series of games must have been very exciting. Especially, now that Brave Blossoms (nick name of Japanese national team) went on to the best 8, the game should be the long-lasting memory for people in Japan. Many people became bandwagon fans and they also enjoyed the games and were excited with Brave Blossoms’ maneuver and won their way to the finals. To tell you the truth, rugby football has not been a major sport compared with baseball and soccer in Japan. But thanks to the Rugby World Cup and Brave Blossoms’ powerful attack and its results, now we have one more option of sports for […]
Thank you for joining our tour of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Oct. 23. We had 13 guests. They were from Australia (2), Israel (3), Italy (2), Portugal (1), U.K. (1) and U.S.A. (4). It was a sunny and warm day, in contrast to the previous day that was a rainy and chilly holiday for the ceremony of the Enthronement of His Majesty the Emperor. Our guests enjoyed walking and taking pictures of historic sites in the autumn garden. As Rugby World Cup semi-final matches are scheduled for this weekend, many foreign visitors have already arrived. Furthermore, we had 420 leaders and dignitaries from abroad to attend the Enthronement ceremony this week. In the Enthronement ceremony held at the imperial palace on Tuesday, Emperor Naruhito proclaimed from inside of the Takamikura (traditional canopied throne) that he has ascended the throne . (Photo from the website of Prime Minister’s Office) The Emperor, the Empress, imperial family members and courtiers wore traditional formal court robes and solemnly performed the historical ritual. This majestic enthronement ceremony has been held by the imperial court since at least 8th century. People from home and abroad must have been impressed by this historic […]
Thank you very much for joining our tour this morning, We we’re so delighted to welcome 31 guests from India, Israel, U.S.A.,Argentina, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Brazil. First, the sky was cloudy at our meeting point, but soon the sun came out to say hi, and the walk under the sun was rather like a one in middle September. Unfortunately, we could not see the wedding ceremony in Shinto style this day, but instead of that, there were many events going on inside and outside the precinct this day. People seem to be really alive. Shi-chi-go-san(a tradition Japanese event to celebrate children’s growth at their age 3 and 5 and 7) , Omiya-mairi(to take their baby to a shrine after it’s first month to pray for his or her good future and health), Ceremony for the WAKA rewards(Excellent Japanese poems collected across the country to offer to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken) , Preparation for the Chrysanthemum Exhibition (from Oct.25-Nov.23), and so many visitors including Rugby fans. Therefore, we could enjoy and share many many kind of hot topics with our guests this day. So as the topics of the enthronement ceremony of the Imperor to be on the day […]
