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 […]
Thank you for joining our first Asakusa tour this 2018. On the day of the tour, 14th of January, with cold temperature and clear sunny skies, we welcomed ten guests from South Korea, Hong Kong, U.S.A., Canada, and Argentina. Not surprisingly, the cold winter weather did not chase the visitors of Asakusa away. We were able to greet enthusiastic visitors not only from every corner of the district, but from other countries as well, despite the weather conditions in Japan. As usual, after greeting everyone and introducing ourselves, we made our regular tour in Asakusa for 90 minutes. Starting at the red painted gate, called Thunder Gate, we proceeded to the last spot, Asakusa Shinto Shrine. Despite the cold weather, the Sensoji Buddhist Temple compound where we started our tour was full of people. Looking around the huge temple grounds, we can see that it was jam-packed with visitors who were happily shopping for souvenirs and eating delicious food from stalls in the compound. Known for its’ religious areas like Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines; big historical events; short cruises along the Sumida River; and delicious food available from street stalls; Asakusa is one of Japan’s most iconic and must-see […]
Thank you for spending your time and joining our tour on Christmas eve,December 24 in Asakusa. In fact it was our last official tour this year. The number of the guests was three from America and Israel. I hope you enjoyed with us. Now that 2017 is coming to an end, the new year is quickly approaching. As soon as the clock strikes 12:00am midnight on December 31, the doors of the main hall of Sensoji Temple opens and tens of thousands of people waiting outside make traditional new year’s wishes for the coming year. The temple precincts will be packed with the visitors during the first three days of the year. The first visit of the year to a temple or shrine is called Hatsumōde which is actually not a long tradition. It started about 140 years ago in the Meiji period. Hatsumōde became popular along the development of rail transportation. People were curious to take a train and visited the distant famous temples and shrines during the new year holidays. Now 80 % of the Japanese people is believed to do hatsumōde. During the Edo period the new year’s activity was generally not uniformed. Some people stayed at […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa areas. With the sunny and occasional cloudy weather, we welcomed around ten people from different parts of the world like Germany, Singapore, U.S.A., and Canada. After the brief introduction, we went to Asakusa Information Center to look at the breathtaking view of the historical site from its rooftop. Then, we went through Kaminarimon Gate, or Thunder Gate and proceeded to Nakamise Street. Nakamise street is the shopping road and the approach to Sensoji Buddhist temple, which have been main landmark in Asakusa for a long time. When we arrived at the commercial street, it was already crowded with tourist while walking through the prominent street. A lot of sign boards hanging above this lovely street truly display the atmosphere associated with the new-year season in Japan. Another interesting topic that we talked about the upcoming New Year is “Shichifukujin” Shichifukujin it is a compound word made up of the words “Shichi” which means “seven” and “fukujin” that translates to “lucky gods” in English. These gods are believed to have arrived aboard a ship full of treasures and their tasks are to bring people good fortune when it comes to […]
Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on November 26. We had 20 guests from America, Canada, Chile, Holland, Germany, Israel, and Singapore. I hope all of you enjoyed our tour in the old part of Tokyo in spite of congestion. It will be a fresh experience for you to take a boat cruise and watch a different angle of Tokyo on Sumida river. There are a few routes from Asakusa. I recommend the cruise to Hama-Rikyu Gardens for autumn color viewing. It takes about 30 minutes. The boat rolls but little. The departing area of the boat around Azumabashi Bridge commands a nice view of Tokyo Sky Tree and the beer mug-shaped building of Asahi Beer company, a major Japanese beverage company. One of the beauties of Sumida River is a bridge. Every bridge has a different shape and color. The original Ryogoku bridge was constructed after the Meireki Great Fire in 1657 when a huge number of people drowned in the river. Eitai Bridge is famous for 50 mikoshi(portable shrines) passing on the occasion of nearby Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine Festival. From this bridge high-rise condominium buildings are seen on the island where the shipbuilding industry started. The last […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa areas. On November 12, with the sunny and occasionally cloudy weather, we welcomed sixteen guests from the different corners of the world; South Korea, Israel, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Argentine, Brazil, Singapore and U.K. It was a long-awaited weather on that day. On our previous tour in Asakusa, we had heavy rainfall and strong wind due to a powerful typhoon. On that lovely day, at the time we arrived at Nakamise street, it was already full of visitors, and we were still moving into the shopping street. This was because this shopping path would immediately be packed with enthusiastic visitors of Buddhist temple, Sensoji Temple. This commercial street is the main landmark to the Buddhist establishment, which is the oldest Buddhist building in Tokyo. Did you find your memorable and salable items at these preferable shops? Well, let me talk about an attraction in Asakusa, Yakatabune The Yakatabune is a Japanese-style wooden boat used for tours. For two hours, the passengers of Yakatabune can experience Japanese cuisine while sailing on various rivers in Japan. This Japanese wooden boat is around twenty meters long, and can accommodate roughly 50 guests per […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour for Asakusa area. On that day, 22 October, we welcomed four guests; Spain, Argentina and Netherlands We really appreciate your participation despite a terrible weather condition because we had torrential rain since early morning. Predicted as a typhoon with an unprecedented size, strength, and scope of destruction, typhoon number 21 with the international name typhoon Lan was approaching the direction of the Kanto and Tokai regions, which include Tokyo and neighboring prefectures. The violent storm was expected to make its landfall in those areas on Monday morning. Not surprisingly, the gloomy weather did not chase the visitors of Asakusa away. We can still see enthusiastic visitors in every corner of the district, despite of the weather condition in Japan. We can rarely see a huge lantern like this, folded up. There are only two occasions when this iconic lantern is being tucked to itself. First is during the time when it needs to give way for portable shrines. Portable shrines are usually carried out of temple compound during the Sanja festival in the month of May. The lantern is folded to avoid it getting punctured by the portable shrines. The other time […]
Today we welcomed 13 guests from many countries. In Tokyo these days it had continued to rain, but today it was fine, very lucky for us. So,we could pleasantly advance the tour. We told them the history of the Sensoji temple with seeing some buildings ,sign boards and rules, manners of Shintoism and Buddhism with experiencing those. They were surprised to know the difference between Shintoism and Buddhism. Perhaps they could know a little bit of Japanese religion. Today in the Sensoji temple there was the special event ,that is “Kinryu- no- Mai” ,the golden dragon dance. This event has been held since 1958 as a commemoration of the reconstruction of the main hall. This dance performance comes from the myth where long years ago a gold dragon descended from the sky to protect the principal image. Anyway now we have 3 courses to guide you, the East Imperial Palace Garden, Asakusa, the Meiji -Shrine and Harajyuku. We are waiting for you. […]
Many thanks for joining our tour in Asakusa on Set. 27. We welcomed three people from Argentina and Italy. Weather was fine and pretty comfortable. Asakusa Streets were crowded with people despite a weekday. Sensoji Temple is Tokyo’s oldest temple which attracts 30 million domestic and overseas visitors every year. The principal building is the main hall. It has been worshipped by many people for 1400 years and developed in spite of the repeated fires and destruction during WW2. The current building was reconstructed in 1958 after the war. Inside the hall the Buddhist statue, goddess of mercy is housed. Asakusa flourished thanks to this image. This is the treasure of the temple as well as Asakusa. The gold statue was discovered by the two fishermen in the nearby Sumida River and protected by the village chief about 1,400 years ago. It is officially unknown where it came from but we can say that Buddhism quickly penetrated into the country just about 70 years after it was introduced into Japan from India via China. Then a priest, founder of Sensoji Temple, Shokai Shonin built a Kannon-do Hall to enshrine the statue which later bacame Sensoji Temple. He decided as a […]
