Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour. On the day of our two-guided tours, 10th of June, we welcomed 13 guests from, U.S.A. Australia, Canada, and Denmark. A rainy and overcast weather condition prevailed and lasted the entire day all over Tokyo. The sky was gloomy and gray, particularly during the day, in many parts of Tokyo, and one of the these places was Asakusa. Overlooking the entire Asakusa district from the rooftop of the Asakusa Information Center, we saw Tokyo Skytree standing appealingly against the backdrop of a gray sky. The top, covered by clouds, seemed invisible to the viewers, while the rest of its parts reflected the gray color of the cloudy sky. It is a typical atmosphere that people experience especially during the wet season in Japan, which usually starts early in the month of June and lasts until the beginning of July. Regardless of the circumstances, we welcomed 13 Asakusa enthusiasts in front of the Thunder Gate, the entrance to the Asakusa Buddhist Temple compound. Starting from the distinct Buddhist temple gate, we eventually moved into the 250-meter long shopping street, called Nakamise street. As we have introduced Nakamise Street on our previous blog […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour. On the day of our two-guided tours, 27th of May, with clear sunny skies, we welcomed 17 guests from Germany, U.S.A. Australia and Argentina. As usual, after greeting everyone and introducing ourselves, we made our tour in Asakusa for 90 minutes. Starting at the red painted gate, called Thunder Gate, we proceeded to the busy shopping street, Nakamise Street. Nakamise Street is the entrance to the main hall of Asakusa Buddhist Temple, which is the oldest temple in Tokyo. It is 250 meters long and has around 90 shopping booths along its both sides. Most of these small shops sell traditional Japanese items that serve as souvenirs like kimono, chopsticks, accessories and old toys. Like the Sensoji temple, this strip of road also has a rich history. The Nakamise shopping area is the forerunner of commercial streets that are now common in Japan. It has sustained its prosperous business for 400 years, ever since trading have started in this area, in the 17th century. Nowadays, this historical business-centered street strives to welcome flocks of foreign visitors to Tokyo, and their shopping needs. Speaking of business in Japan, a traditional fabric called […]
Thank you for your participation to “Tokyo Free Walking Tour – Asakusa Route” on May 21 Mon. We welcomed 7 guests from Austria, Germany, USA & Ukraine. As for May 23, it was a private tour based on the request from a guest from Toronto on the May 20 Meiji Jingu Shrine & Harajuku tour. Monday tour was held under a lovely sunny sky though was rather hot. But there was a light breeze which was very pleasant. Weather changed into cloudy on Wednesday, but still cozy for Asakusa exploring. As guests’ size we had for both tour was not large, we could offer private tour for each groups. Our lovely guests enjoyed not only historical & cultural guiding but local sweets. Toward hot summer, one of the recommendations is “Maccha green tea drink with cube ice”. Sanja Matsuri, ne of the biggest events for Asakusa was held May 18-20. Sanja Matsuri or Sanja Festival is one of the three great Shinto festivals in Tokyo held annually for 3 days on the third weekend of May in Asakusa Shrine. The festival is held in honor of the three men who founded Senso-ji Temple. Sanja Matsuri is considered as one […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking tour. On that day, May 13, we had two times of tour-10 A.M and 1 P.M. Although the weather condition was not so good, we welcomed totally around ten guests from the different corners of the world; U.S.A., Swiss, Poland, Rumania, Germany, Austria. We started by introducing ourselves and giving our brief orientation about this tour and went to Asakusa Information Center in order to see better views of the Asakusa areas. This is because the rooftop of this building is high enough for us to enjoy breathtaking views. We made time to stroll around 90 minutes in line with our tour route like this picture shows. Finally, the time for Golden Week in Japan, from the 29th of April to May 5, has come to an end, and most companies and schools in Japan are now back to their regular schedules. It seems like we will have to wait for a little longer before we can finally say that the summer season is here. In Asakusa, it is not an exaggeration to say that we are excited to welcome the most anticipated season this May, because there are tons of annual […]
Thank you for joining to “Tokyo Free Walking Tour – Asakusa Route” on April 26. We welcomed 12 guests from Argentina, Austria, Canada, India, Portugal and USA. It was a lovely sunny day though was rather hot. But there was a light breeze which was very pleasant. Asakusa is one of the most popular districts in Tokyo for both local and overseas visitors. The area is always crowded with people thus we usually divide guests into small groups so that guests could enjoy our guiding and interactive communication with us. On the 3rd weekend of May, one of the biggest events for Asakusa is scheduled, i.e. Sanja Matsuri. Sanja Matsuri or Sanja Festival is one of the three great Shinto festivals in Tokyo held annually for 3 days on the third weekend of May in Asakusa Shrine. The festival is held in honor of the three men who founded Senso-ji Temple. Sanja Matsuri is considered as one of the wildest and largest festivals in Tokyo, which welcomes over 2 million visitors in 3 days. The chances are that you will learn more details from the report of next Asakusa tour scheduled on May 21. For this issue, let me introduce you a lovely […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking. On that day, April 22, we were honored to welcome 19 guests to our walking tour. These people came from different regions of the world, including U.S.A., U.K., Israel, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, and Germany. Apparently, we experienced a windfall condition which was higher temperature than that of seasonal ones. As we started our tour, the temperature seemed to increase more than 25 degrees and it completely allowed us to wear sweatshirts. Normally, the daytime temperature rises around 20 degrees, though, at night or early morning, we occasionally have less than 15 degrees. This is a typical atmosphere of springtime in Japan because this unstable weather condition lasts in the late spring. Under this seasonal atmosphere, we were pleased to meet a lot of Asakusa lovers. Kaminarimon Gate, or Thunder Gate warmly welcomed us while we’re strolling in this iconic spot for around 90 minutes. Most of our visitors are a little familiar with the Sensoji Buddhist Temple and some temple rituals due to the information provided by websites like Trip Advisor, Facebook and other social media sites. However, before we step foot into the sacred Buddhist building of the Sensoji Temple, let’s […]
Many thanks to the guests joining the tour. On that day at Sensoji Temple we welcomed 12 guests from Mexico, Phillipines, Argentina, Malaysia, and Norway. We divided into 4 groups. The weather was cloudy but spring has already come. Some of cherry blossoms started to bloom. During the tour, you see statues halfway to the main temple hall, on back side of the entrance gate, Kaminari-mon there placed a couple statues. They are humanized dragon couple. One is male and the other is female. As a proof, both have tales in the back. Their original figure is flying snake with a scary head. They are the guardians of the Buddha in Sensoji temple. In the main hall, dragon figure is painted on the ceiling. Dragons were originally living in the Sumida River near the temple and appeared as guardians. We call them “Ryu.” There are many legends about dragons. The statues hold balls which can make any wish come true like Japan’s famous animation drama “Dragon Ball.” For ordinary citizens, dragons are good luck and hazard prevention charm because they can cause rainfall, which is good for farming in the sense they can prevent drought and are good for the […]
Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on March 11. We had the seven friendly guests from UK, Australia, America, Brazil and Columbia. I hope all of you enjoyed walking with us in comfortable Spring weather. There are plenty of great events and festivals in Asakusa throughout the year. March 18 is Honzon Jigen-e to celebrate the appearance of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy housed at Sensoji Temple. Three mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried out of Asakusa Shrine and various dances are performed at the temple precincts. On that day in the year of 628 two fishermen brothers were catching fish in the nearby Sumida River and caught a small wooden statue. Then they brought back to the village and the village chief recognized the significance of the find as the Goddess of Mercy and converted his house into a temple. This is the beginning of Sensoji Temple which is celebrated by the Honzon Jigen-e ritual. (Origin) (Sensoji Temple) (Asakusa Shrine) Later adjoining Asakusa Shrine was built to honor the three men who were involved in the discovery of the statue. That’s why three mikoshi are housed in the storage. Although the famous Sanja Festival respecting the three men is now […]
On the day of Feb 11, with low temperature and clear sunny sky, we welcomed around six guests from different regions, Australia, Austria, Germany and Philippines. After splitting these enthusiastic visitors into three, each group was assigned with a few guides who also loves this historical town and are honored to guide them. Starting with introducing ourselves and giving our brief orientation about this tour, we went to Asakusa Information Center in order to see better views of the Asakusa areas. This is because the rooftop of this building is high enough for us to enjoy breathtaking views. The sceneries sighted from this location seemed like a pictured guidebook, which can catch visitor’s interests and notify the proper outlooks to their ideal spots from there. Normally, our guides point out the direction of iconic spots, like Tokyo SkyTree, Smida River and particularly an eye-catching object like poop, which is fully painted in gold on the top of Asahi brewer building. By the time we concluded our tour in the last location, Asakusa Shinto Shrine, which is adjacent to the Sensoji Buddhist temple, we were already surrounded by a lot of visitors amid the crowds of people proceeding to the compound […]
Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on January 28. We had seven guests from Singapore,Chile,America and China. It was cloudy and cold, but nevertheless I hope all of you enjoyed the atmosphere of old Tokyo. February 3 is Setsubun,literally splitting the season when Mamemaki or bean-throwing festival is held at Sensoji Temple. It is the day before the first day of spring. Actually it is New Year’s Eve according to the Old calendar system. On this day people throw beans to ward off demons and welcome good fortune. (Photoes:The Asakusa Tourism Federation 365 ASAKUSA) This tradition dates back over 1,000 years. In Japan it is believed from ancient times that demons come out in the changing of the seasons. Hence, there were year-end ceremonies to cleanse away all the evils and diseses of the previous year prior to the new year at the Imperial Court in Kyoto during the Heian period. Then this event developed into bean-throwing ritual since beans were believed to have the power to dispel evil spirits. Bean-throwing festival is not a national holiday but a major event in February throughout the country. It is held at home but many people gather at temples and […]
