Thank you for choosing our Meiji Shrine and Harajuku tour on March 12th, 2023. We welcomed 8 guests from Bulgaria, Canada, Australia, France, and Israel. I hope all of you enjoyed and shared interesting conversations with us during the tour. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached to remember the fun times we had. It was a sunny day and really comfortable for the tour. However, we could not see any wedding ceremony at the shrine because today was Butsumetsu, “Buddha’s death” which was the most unlucky day of the six Rokuyo-days. We hope to see it on your next visit. We have found the flag of Ireland and many people who wore green clothes at the Omotesando Avenu. The parade for celebrating St. Patrick’s day on March 17th was held from 13 pm to 15 pm. This national holiday commemorates St. Patrick, the patron saint who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century. This event is held all over the world as a festival to celebrate the arrival of spring. We always strive to give high-quality tours. Your feedback is very important and useful to us. If you have a moment, please consider posting comments about tours […]
Thank you for choosing our tour at Meiji Shrine and Harajuku tour on Feb. 19, 2023. We welcomed 12 guests from the USA, UK, Philippines, Australia, Austria, and New Zealand. I hope all of you enjoyed and shared interesting conversations with us during the tour. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached to remember the fun times we had. Today, “Taian” was the most suitable day for weddings. We were so happy to meet a couple of wedding ceremonies. We could not help but take photos. The bride wore the traditional Japanese headdress, “Tsunokakushi”. It is said that when a woman becomes jealous and angry, horns come out of her head, then Tsunokakushi is used to hide it. “Goshinboku” is a sacred tree where gods dwell and a power spot. Two camphor trees are popularly known as “Meoto Kusu” and are a symbol of marriage, marital bliss, and family safety. It is said that the view from the camphor tree looking toward the shrine is the most powerful in terms of matchmaking power, and it is said to be effective when used as a standby screen for cell phones. We always strive to give high-quality tours. Your feedback is […]
Thank you for choosing our tour at Meiji Shrine and Harajuku on Jan.22nd. We welcomed 7 guests from Singapore and US. I hope all of you enjoyed and shared interesting conversations with us during the tour. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached to remember the fun times we had. It was lucky morning to see many Wedding Ceremonies. Meiji Shrine layout was arranged especially for New Years’ first visit of shrine (hatsu-moude) and had a large votive tablet of rabbit. Your feedback is important and helpful to us. If you enjoyed our tour, please considerposting a review on our TripAdvisor/Facebook etc. Your comments will help contributeto higher-quality tours. Once again, thank you for choosing Tokyo Free Walking Tourduring your precious time in Tokyo. In case you happen to be back in Tokyo, pleasejoin another one of our tours. (posted by Sakamoto)
Do you know how to pray at the Japanese Shrine?? Many thanks to 5 guests participating in the tour to Meiji Jingu shrine and Harajuku on Nov. 6th. They came from the UK and Singapore. We split into 3 groups. We totally enjoyed a refreshing autumn day at this shrine, which is located in the middle of the city but surrounded by nature. For more than 300 years, chrysanthemum planting has been a part of the traditional culture of the Japanese people. There are also many of the family with little kids celebrating their coming to age of three, five or seven, which is called “Shich-go-san”. After taking a look around the traditional shrine area, we also enjoyed to go out to the modern city site known as Harajuku area! The next tour will be held on DEC. 18th, 2022. We are looking forward to booking many of you on the following sites: Our website –> https://tfwt.jp/top/meiji-shrine-and-harajuku/ , https://www.facebook.com/TokyoFWT or Tokyo Free Walking Tour at https://www.tripadvisor.jp/ . Thank you.
Hello, everyone! It’s looooooong time no see since the COVID came here for a couple of years… Hope you’ve been wonderful now! Fortunately, we have opened our regular tour again finally! We will reopen our regular tour for Meiji Shrine and Harajuku city strolling on Sunday, Oct. 2nd. [Itinerary] 1. Meiji Shrine Main Gate (Ichi-no-torii) Sake barrels / Wine barrels Oo-torii Main Pavilion (Honden) / Sacred Tree / Votive Tablet Hall of worship (Kaguraden) / Place of worship for cars 2. Harajuku city Strolling Omote-sando street (the approach road for Meiji Shrine) Takeshita dori street (Shopping street) :The birth place of the Japanese Pop Culture. You can also find many vintage fashion clothes and good Japanese souvenirs for your friends and family. Ota Memorial Museum (Museum for the traditional Ukiyoe wood curving printing) Any other interesting photogenic spots! [Duration] Approximately 1.5 – 2 hours Here is the site of the booking for our tour as follows: https://www.supersaas.com/schedule/TFWT/Tokyo_Free_Walking_Tour We’re looking forward to seeing you at the tour. Thank you!!
We could not express how we were deeply impressed to welcome all of you at Meiji-jingu this day. Since it was our very first time to hold a weekday tour at this place, all of our guides were excited. On the other hand, the warning at a relatively high alert of Corona virus made us a bit worry if we could meet any of our guests this day. No matter , We would like to thank each of you from Malaysia, Spain, France, Italy, totally 20 wonderful guests indeed. There is a word called “Ichi-go-ichi-e(一期一会）” in Japanese, whichi means “an oppurrtunity to meet you is one time in one life”. Don’t you think that this word has been created just for us? The precinct was apparently quiet with less people visiting than usual. To avoid crowded areas, we were afraid that we have to skip areas like Takeshita-dori street but could rather spend more relaxed space and time inside the precinct. Some of our guests even tried omikuji or writing their wishes to dedicate them to the shrine. When we reached to the main area inside the precinct, we could encounter some interesting scenes like a wedding couple dressed in Shinzen-style kimono or […]
Thank you for choosing our tours at Meiji Shrine and Harajuku on 16 Februrary 2020. We welcomed 4 guests from UK and France. I hope all of you enjoyed our tour and shared with us an interesting conversation of history and culture for a few hours. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached. We always strive to improve our tours for the higher standards, your feedback is very important and useful. If you have a moment, please consider commenting about the tour on our Facebook /TripAdvisor etc. Also, please tell your family and friends about us. You might wonder what is the feature of this tour besides viewing Japan’s traditional Shinto shrine. We always suggest the contrast between such traditional atmosphere in first half of the tour and fancy Harajuku town in latter half. The two are totally different kinds but located next to each other. But there is even more interesting contrast within the Harajuku town. Our guests walk to Takeshita street in Harajuku town, which is known to be youngsters’ fun street with lineup of sweet shops, cloth shops and cafes. So the atmosphere is quite fancy and cute so that children can get easily attracted to […]
Many thanks for joining us on our tour at Meiji Shrine and Harajuku Tour on Feb. 2nd. We welcomed 9 guests from Italy, USA, Norway and Australia. The group was divided into 3. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet lots of wonderful people from all over the world and exchange the cultural information. I particularly appreciate the fact that some of you consecutively joined our 3 tours for two days. The weather was perfectly fine. We met a wedding ceremony of young couple and saw a matured couple who prayed at the sacred trees at the same time. I like such views we can often see at Meiji Jingu Shrine. As promised, group photos and snap shots are attached. The next day of the tour, February 3 is the SETSUBUN of this year. There is a custom in Japan that beans are scattered for evil or devils, so I also received FUKUMAME, parched beans scattered on SRTSUBUN, at Meiji Shrine. (Please refer to the previous repot of “The Imperial Palace of East Gardens Tour on Feb 1” for details on SETSUBUN). SETSUBUN is the day before the spring and the end of the winter in […]
Thank you for joining our Meiji shrine & Harajuku tour on the 19th January. We welcomed 16 guests from the U.K, India, Turkey, Serbia, Argentina, the U.S.A. and Australia. Although it was a bit chilly, we enjoyed a fantastic walking under the blue sky. In this tour, you can experience an amazing transition of the atmosphere , absorbed in a traditional tranquility of the shrine, then jostling through a crowd in colorful Takeshita street, finally reaching a grand avenue lined with sumptuous boutiques. It is the real charm of this tour ! We all wish travelers in Japan have a wonderful time and we’d appreciate if our tour would be one of your happy memories in Japan. We hope to see you again.(by Miharu)
Dear TFWT tour guests and website viewers, Happy New Year! For you, who stayed in Japan over the years, hope you encountered and enjoyed various kinds of seasonal Japan unique events, decorations, dishes and traditions. We also met lots of new year special during the tour on January 5, the first Meiji Jingu Shrine & Harajuku route tour of the year. We welcomed 9 guests from Australia, Ireland, Singapore & USA. It was a lovely sunny day which looks like promise our happiness of the year. Thank YOU very much for your joining to our tour! As the benefit of relatively small number of guests, we could offer semi-private tour for our guests and could customize the contents at some extent. Meiji Jingu Shrine, one of the most known and popular Shinto shrine in Japan, will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, just in time for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Lots of ceremonies, events & exhibitions are schedule throughout the year. Please add Meiji Jingu Shrine to your “must-visit” list. Before closing this tour report, let me share you one of the seasonal Japanese traditional custom scheduled on January 7, tomorrow, which is called “Nanakusa-gayu or rice […]
