East Gardens of the Imperial Palace

Thank you for joining us on the national holiday, called "National Foundation Day." On that day we welcomed 19 guests from USA, Australia and Spain. It was cold but the sky was very clear. We were divided into 3 groups. Why this day is called "National Foundation Day" is that it is believed that first emperor in history was inagurated on that day more than 2600 years ago. The name of first emperor was Jinmu. Some scholars claim it was a legendary figure. Current emperor Akihito, is 125th from Ji...

Thank you for the guests kindly joined our tour on 6-Feb. We had 21 guests from 6 countries such as U.S.A. Australia, U.K., Finland, Singapore, and Thailand. Some guests came to Japan to enjoy skiing, although it was Super bowl weekend, and in the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere. We realized ski is Hot!! We formed 4 groups and each group had 9-10 people including our newly joined members. The # of the newly joined member exceeds 50, and last week all of them had classroom orientation...

Thank you for the guests kindly joined our weekday tour on 4th -Feb. We totally had 4 guests from USA, Canada and Germany. Since we only had four guests, the tour itself became very cozy and friendly, like a private tour. For example, a guide prepared “Charm in the Park Hunting” game, or another guide made “Origami” balloon with our 12-years-old guest. After the tour in East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, we went to Asakusa (Please note this Asakusa tour is our special tour so far, subject to t...

Thank you for the guests kindly joined our tour on 30-Jan. We totally had 23 guests from several countries, divided three groups. It was very cold & gray day on last Saturday. Weather forecast said we would have snow here, but fortunately (unfortunately? for some people), we didn’t. Usually we have snow once or twice in a year here in Tokyo. It means Tokyo people are not good at snowy weather and have unusual problem EVERY TIME, like subway/railway delay or suspension, some fractured people by s...

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming! We could share our precious time with 18 foreign visitors from all over the world. Let me introduce our many participants with the following photos. In Edo castle site, there are three houses to guard each gateon the way tocastle palace. Second one is called Hyakunin Bansho in Japanese. As itwas very important to guard, special force team at that time was assigned. Can you guess? It is Ninja! Special Iga or Koga family members were in shift. We hear Ni...

We welcomed 7 guests from Germany, The U.S. and England. The sky was blue, but it was very cold day. It snowed on the day before in Tokyo. Snow disrupted train services and people couldn't go to offices. Tokyo is really weak against snow. But snow makes things beautiful. We enjoyed the combination of snow and Japanese traditional things. I hope all guests to enjoy their stay. Please visit our website, Facebook and TripAdvisor page!!

Today we welcomed 5 guests from Australia,Taiwan, and Germany.TFWT guides were 5 people,and we walked in a group.We explained at the guide points in turns and enjoyed talking to each other. I heard that 4 people of the guests were going to skiing to Hokkaido or Nagano. They are known for high quality snow,thus they are attracting skiers and snowboarders from around the world.Especially, Niseko ski resort in Hokkaido is very popular among Australian people.Hokkaido and Nagano are also famous for ...

Today we welcomed 8 guests from many countries. Today's guests were very few ,but this is rare case. Another guide says there happened same thing last same season. We divided them in 2 groups ,and started from the Tokyo station. Until several days ago warm days had continued in our country , but recently the cold of winter has come. But it was sunny daytime , so it was very comfortable to walk. In the garden visitors were few ,so we could see and explain many sights freely without annoying to ot...

Today we welcomed 7 guests from Finland, Australia and Canada. We all enjoyed the pleasant walk under the clear blue sky. Many guests mentioned that they would go see the Sumo tournament during their stay. So here is a quick introduction of Sumo. Sumo is Japanese style of wrestling and Japan's national sport. It goes back to ancient times as a performanceto entertain the Shinto gods. Therefore many pre-match rituals are involved. Here is the standard ritual: 1) Both wrestlers welcome each other ...

Happy New Year and thank you for joining our first tour of the year! It has been a relatively warm winter in Tokyo so far, so much that plum trees at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace are beginning to bloom - which we usually expect some time around early February. I went with a group of six with guests from Germany, Hong Kong and Vietnam. As my partner guide and I explained about historical sites of interest, our conversation wandered off to various topics from seniority systems in differ...