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 […]
Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on September 24. It was lovely weather at the beginning of autumn. We welcomed seven friendly people from Britain, Mexico, Uruguay and Philippines. Nakamise shopping street was congested with people as usual. ‘Kappabashi Tool Street’ is known as Japan’s largest kitchen tool street. Annual festival will be held from Oct.6 until Oct.12. Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather,particularly during the holiday weekend with the events and parades. There are about 170 specialized shops and most of them will have a sale. Kitchen utensils will be available at reasonable prices. You may be able to find a bargain. The categories of products are everything needed by restaurants without fresh food. You will find specialized stores such as dishes, pans and plastic food samples. Plastic food samples of sushi and tempura look interesting, real and delicious. They are an ideal souvenir for tourists to buy. When you are tired, a fashionable cafe is available. ( Maiduru pro) The origin of the street is that several people started the second-hand tool shops in 1912. ‘Kappabashi’ is named after a merchant Kihachi ‘Kappa’ya(raincoat seller) who was engaged in the waterway project 200 […]
Thank you for all guests who joined “Sep. 10, Asakusa Tour. We had 6 guests from Brazil, Switzerland, U.S. and Canada. We could see the new couple in Japanese traditional wedding costume. Oh such a nice day !! Asakusa is always exciting. Why don’t you visit the town some time? (reported by Keiko N)
Thank you for coming Asakusa areas. We welcomed several guests on that day and briefly introduced ourselves. Right after that, we started our tour with climbing the roof top of Asakusa Tourist Information Center, where we enjoyed seeing the breathtaking views of these historical areas. Normally, we visit seven spots in this Asakusa strolling and conclude at Asakusa Shinto Shrine. Recently, rainy and overcast conditions have prevailed and lasted a half month in most of Japan. It has highly likely made the unprecedented records in Japanese weather forecast. Although the weather was not perfect, we were truly honored to make tours for enthusiastic travelers in this historical place, Asakusa. On the way, while strolling along the roads of Asakusa, you will see some Buddhist buildings and retailer shops selling traditional food, clothing and other souvenirs. It will effectively make you, Asakusa lovers, feel fully immersed in the atmosphere of old Tokyo. Moreover, you would probably be enthusiastic in viewing Kabuki, after you successfully find statues of five men in this historical site. These attractive objects can be found on different shop’s roofs, wearing the clothing of typical town people from the Edo period. They are called “Shiranami […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour for Asakusa area. Around one year has already passed since this Asakusa strolling started regularly. On that day, we welcomed around 17 guests from USA, Canada, Spain, and Italy. July 17 was a hot and humid day, and at the time we were about to start the tour at around 10:00 am, the temperature had already reached 30 degrees Celsius. Normally, we visit seven spots in this historical town and conclude at Asakusa Shinto Shrine. Here are one of the topics, “Shimenawa & Shide”, characterizing Shintoism and Shinto shrines. Shimenawa is a sacred rope and is made of rice straw, which is bundled and technically woven twisted. It is used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. Normally, this rope is attached to a zigzag-shaped paper streamer called Shide. Both Shimenawa and Shide are used as symbols of the boundary indicating between the sanctuary and our world. On the other hand, they are used to decorate notable objects like stones, tree, and other sacred things. It’s believed that deities reside in the locations and give solace to visitors. Aside from that, these Shinto decorations are used in ceremonies in hope of […]
Thank you for coming Asakusa areas. We welcomed around 20 guests on that day and briefly introduced ourselves. Right after that, we start our tour with climbing the roof top of Asakusa Tourist Information Center, where we enjoyed seeing the breathtaking views of these historical areas. Normally, we visit seven spots in this Asakusa strolling and conclude at Asakusa Shinto Shrine. We hope we can have a number of Asakusa tourists as well as the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. Are you looking for serene and historical sites in Asakusa? You can visit Sensoji Buddhist Temple, Asakusa Shinto Shrine or Kaminari Gate. These are certainly beautiful and appealing places but would you like to visit a hidden place? I think the Kumeno-Heinai Do will interest you. This is an amazing and fascinating spot in Asakusa. “Kumeno-Heinai” was a samurai in the early Edo period, at around 17th century. On the other hand, “Do” means a tiny temple. This small memorial building enshrines this samurai’s statue and there are many stories about him. One of the most popular stories about the samurai is the legend that Heinai was a great sword master and he was able to kill […]
Thank you so much for joining our tour in Asakusa on 28th May.We are glad to receive 20 friendly guests from eight countries. The weather was fine and the streets were congested with people as usual. Some of you might have seen a Shinto-style wedding ceremony at Asakusa shrine.I hope all of you enjoyed a short walking tour with us. Now the beautiful five-storied pagoda has just been uncovered. Renovation and repair works have been underway since June last year and almost completed. The height is about 53 meters or 15 to 20th floor of a building and it is the second tallest pagoda in Japan. We are pleased to get back the beautiful landmark of Asakusa. The current pagoda was built in 1973 and the former pagoda had been standing at the opposite side of the street for about 300 years.It was destroyed in the firebombings during WWⅡ in 1945. Some pagodas were destroyed by fires,typhoons and lightning. Currently there are approximately 80 five-storied pagodas existing in Japan and there is no record that pagodas have been broken down by earthquakes. Apparenty pagodas including this tower are an earthquake resistant structure with many flexible joints which resembles a snake […]
A big thanks to all the people who participatd in our tour on May 3rd in Asakusa. We welcomed 20 people from Europe, North America and Australia. I would like to express my deepest appreciation for choosing our tour. The weather was lovely.It was the Constitution Day, a national holiday in Japan and the streets in Asakusa were very crowded with peoople prior to SANJA Matsuri(Festival). I hope all of the participants enjoyed the moment in the old town of Tokyo. After cherry blossoms have been blown away, the matsuri season will come. During the month of May a number of the traditional matsuri are held througout the country. Among them Asakusa SANJA Matsuri may be most famous and spectacular in Tokyo to be held in mid May (19-21th this year).This is the festival of Asakusa Shrine where three founders(Sanja) of the Kannon statue of Sensoji Temple are enshrined as Shinto gods.Sanja Festival features about 100 powerful mikoshi, portable shrines in which Shinto gods are symbolically placed and parade the streets to bring good fortune to the local residents. Mikoshi is decorated with gold sculpture and painted with gold leaf. Each one weighs about 1,000 kilograms carried by approximately 40 people. You may […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour of Asakusa area. We welcomed more than ten guests on that day. Did you enjoy the tour? Did you find your ideal items? The weather was perfect at around 20 degrees Celsius. As this chart shows, we started with Asakusa Tourist Info. Center and ended at Asakusa Shinto shrine. In this historical location, visitors can have a lot of options like shopping salable items or strolling in historical assets like Sensoji Templ and Asakusa Shinto Shrine. Furthermore, we hope you’ll get interested in the two types of diets you can see in these religious compounds as follows. “Nio Statues” & “Koma-inu Statues”（ An excerpt from guide scripts） Let’s take a close look at the mouths of these statues. These statues are called Nio Statues and they are often in pairs. It can be seen in most temples, not only in Japan but also in other neighboring Asian countries. The statue on the left side is call “A-gyou” because it has an open mouth resembling the way the sound of letter A or “AH” is pronounced. It instructs us to be open to spiritual awakening and be thoroughly insightful in engaging […]
・Date/Time : April 30, 2017 ( 9:30―10:30 ) ・Meeting Place : Beside the police box by the Kaminarimon Gate of the Sensoji temple in Asakusa. [more on where to find us] ・We leave at 9:30. Please take care to arrive on time ! ・Participation Fee : Free ・Reservation : Not required ・The number of the participants of Asakusa tour are limited. First-come-first-served basis. Thank you for your understanding. ・Participants : Foreign tourists and residents, and their accompanying Japanese friends, families, etc. For more information on our tour please visit our website, facebook and tripadvisor page!.
