Thank you very much to all the guests for joining our tour despite heavy rain. We welcomed 25 guests from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and UK. We feel sorry for those who stayed in Tokyo for past 1 week, because it had been raining for most of the day. It is because Japan is now in Typhoon season. Typhoon (Taifu in Japanese) is violent tropical rainstorms happened in the Pacific Ocean. They usually hit Japan during July to October. And if a typhoon lands on Japan Archipelago, it causes very strong wind and heavy rain resulting floods and destroy trees, houses, and so on. We carefully watch weather forecast about the course of typhoon and try to be ready for protection when needed. Typhoon is named with number in order of happening in the season, i.e. Typhoon #1,”2… We already had 16 typhoons and of which 6 landed on Japan. The day of the tour’s rain was the impact of Typhoon #16. We may have several more typhoons on coming month, but the weather of coming week seems better. And generally speaking, October is the best season for leisure and travelling, so I hope visitors […]
Since the crazily hot August went away, now we are supposed to be in cool autumn. But it was still hot and humid. Nevertheless we amazingly welcomed 55guests . We split into 6groups and began the tour from Marunouchi north gate of Tokyo station at 1:00pm.(Initially the starting point was Marunouchi central gate, but it was moved to north gate for a renovation temporally.) This is one of the guiding points, Japan Industry Club-building. Intriguing statues are on top of it. These are the group-photos. See below, After the tour you can try an instant kimono. It takes about one hour to put on a normal kimono(a Japanese traditional cloth), but we have special kimono that it only takes two minutes to put on. We have ones for men and women. It sure is a good idea to wear a instant kimono to take a photo as a good memory of the tour. Then next is your turn! Come and join us! See us at Marunouchi central or north gate(both OK) of Tokyo station by 1pm. Akira Hoyanagi
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour. We welcomed around sixty guests on Sep. 10th tour and split them into five groups. This is because we are mutually able to make a tour for two hours. Our tour started at Tokyo station and via modern commercial district we went into the compound of old Edo castle, where it’s now called “East Gardens of the Imperial Place”. At the start of the tour, the weather was not so perfect and occasionally the sky was exceedingly covered with scattered clouds. However, as temperature was constantly around 30 degrees it’s really humid. It is usual that once the tour is set up, most of the participants started talkatively sharing different kinds of topics like foods, fashions, history or other interesting matters. It’s our motto that we provide visitors with a lot of opportunities to be knowledgeable about Japan in hopes of keeping good memories even after returning to their countries. For this reason, our guides are willing to share Japanese culture with the guests. For instance, some of the participants occasionally ask about Japanese style drinking bars called “Izakaya”. So […]
Thank you very much for all the guests joining our tour. We welcomed 43guests from USA, Australia, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Columbia, Poland, Israel, Japan, and Ecuador. Since our guests are from variety of countries, they also enjoy sharing the tips or memories about former trip each other. Encounter and communicating with new people are also one of fun things for joining our tour. (for us, too!) There are four seasons in Japan: spring (March-May); summer (June-August); autumn (September-November); winter (December-February). Today was 3rd of September, so autumn has formally started; however, it was not like autumn at all, still hot and sunny day like summer. At the formal end of summer, 31st of August, the general entry applications for Tokyo Marathon 2017, which will be held on February 26, 2017, was closed. Tokyo Marathon is getting more and more popular not only for Japanese but also runners from other countries. This year, the course will be changed with new finish site which is one of our tour spots!! Whether you are the one who luckily got entry places for Tokyo Marathon or not, (of course!), it would be great if you include our tour on your itinerary […]
We have welcomed 49 guests for today’s tour and divided into 5 groups to show our guests around. Two Japanese high school students also joined us to get some guide-experience as their summer vacation activity. The young girl students seemed a bit nervous at the beginning of our tour, but their passion pushed themselves to plunge into the fulfilling diversity! Our guest were from the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, Spain, Austria, U.K., Australia, Uzbekistan, Thailand this day. At the start of the tour, the cloudy sky seemed to take on our side. Although, it gradually started raining after all of us got inside the Higashi Gyoen. Well, we were O.K. since most of us had an umbrella and we pulled ourselves to the resthouse instead of sitting on the lawn in the Honmaru Goten area. At the end of tour, it stopped raining but I hope that we were rather happy with low temperature this day and could avoid encountering the rampaging typhoon!! This week, the hot topic in our country was about the medal rush and also about the presentation held at the Closing Ceremony for Rio Olympic games on Aug.21. Our country did a 8 minute presentation and it started with a […]
We thank everyone who joined the tour of that day. Around 39 people from USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Korea, Belgium, Brazil, France, Nederland and U.K. participated came and joined us. Then we divided into 4 groups. The weather was very unstalbe on that day. In the morning, it was heavy raining. But luckily the rain stopped just before the tour started. It stopped raining until the tour ended. Looked like God sided with us. Speaking of God, we’ve received a question from a guest about our religious views. In the third spot in the tour, Wadakura bridge, we could view the glass box chapel in the center of Palace Hotel building. A couple can be wedded viewing the Imperial Palace. Under the chapel is banquet room where a couple and their invitees joined after the wedding. The question was if Christian followers attend sermons at the chapel. The answer is No. The chapel is dedicated to wedding ceremony. No sermons or praying are held there. That is a hotel own chapel. Not like a chapel in a local town. In Japan Christian church wedding is very popular but only 1 % of population is Christian. Likewise Japanese celebrate Christmas in December although most of us don’t go to […]
Thank you to all the wonderful guests who joined our tour on August 13. Although it was a hot and humid day (which is an average summer day in Japan), we welcomed almost 50 guests, and divided into 4 groups. Because it was so hot, many guests were buying drinks and ice cream during the tour. (I actually drank two bottles of water during the tour.) Our group talked about the Emperor’s suggestion that he would like to abdicate, which was a big news in Japan. (I have heard that it was on news in other countries too.) The Emperor and the Royal family is always a hot topic during the tour, and today was no exception. We have a regular tour every Saturday and also weekday/Sunday tours irregularly. There is a calendar on our website, facebook and tripadvisor. If you are planning to travel to Tokyo, please include our tour on your to-do list. We are looking forward to meet you all! (Yuri T.)
Thank you very much for joining us from all over the world. In the morning on that day, the opening ceremony of Rio 2016 Olympics Games was televised in Japan. From that day on we can enjoy watching top athletes’ performance of many sports. We are rooting for our own national teams,but recent doping scandal reminds us that mutual respect is more important than the color of the medal. We wish all athletes best of luck!! We welcomed 18 guests from Austria,Israel, the U.S, Canada,Spain, Bulgaria, Argentina, and Romania. We were divided into 3 groups. In a small group,we talked about various topics such as Olympics games , Pokemon Go, and Japanese foods as well as the tour related issues. On the other hand, we welcomed some new volunteers from local high school and college. They joined us as a part of summer curriculum They were all young and promising, and we hope this experience was meaningful for their future.
Thanks to all the guests for joining and having a good time with us! It’s sunny and very hot day, typical summer weather in Japan. We welcomed 35 guests and we divided into 4 groups. The number of guest of each group is below 10, that is suitable number to get friendly with all people in a group. In a sunny day, it’s important and necessary to find shade, under a tree, beside a police box when we explain historical sites. Peak season of summer festival has come in Japan, and today is the day one of the biggest fireworks festivals is held near the Sumida river. Some guests well know this festival and they are planning to go there. In Edo period, people enjoyed this fireworks on a bridge or a boat, but it’s difficult for us to take a same way. Cost for a boat is expensive and police don’t allow us stopping on a bridge. And more, many people gather into closest area of fireworks, ex. Asakusa. That’s why I go to JR Minami-Senju station in Jo-ban line. This town is little bit far from the center of festival, but I can enjoy watching the fireworks from a space between building and house. Other festivals will be held in […]
Thank you very much for joining us from all over the world. On that day we welcomed 24 guests from Australia, Indonesia, Deutschland, Canada, Malaysia and Israel. Then we were divided into 2 groups. It was not too hot despite this time of the year. But it was hot enough to enjoy icecream at a resthouse in the East Garden, where the tour groups stopped in the middle of the course. The resthouse sells several kinds of icecream. Most recommended one is Macha icecream. Macha is strong flavoured green tea. It was originally used as powder of tea to mix with hot water. Macha tea is mainly used in tea ceremony. Tea ceremony is one of Japan’s traditional hobbies. People enjoy having sweets and Macha tea in a bowl. But this is formal occasion and certain manner is required for attendees. There are manner schools for that. Our guests tried that and enjoy the taste of it. U.S. President Obama used to taste that when he visited Japan before becoming the President of his nation. Communicating with guests is greatest aspect of the tour. One of the guides talked with Israeli guests about Japanese diplomat named Sugihara who saved Jewish refugees from Poland while he served as Vice-Counsul […]
