East Gardens of the Imperial Palace

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, ...

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 policebox when we explain historical sites. Peak season of summer festival has come in Japan, and today is the day one ...

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, wherethe 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...

Thank you for all the guests kindly joining our regular tour on 23rd of July. We had 35 guests from13 countries and eleven volunteer guides attended the tour. So we were divided into 5 groups and enjoyed the tour. This morning every TV program says “At last in Japan the download of POKEMON GO started yesterday” and are explaining how to play it. We can see some people playing it in the Imperial Palace East Gardens. It is cloudy and humid. We are still in the rainy season, which lasts longer than...

Thank you to all wonderful guests for joining us on July 20. We separated into two groups with 8 people in each group. It was a sunny day, despite the weather forecasts which predicted overcast. The air felt thick. It’s no wonder that it is in the rainy season in Tokyo. It’s muggy and rainy every day and the weather is unpredictable. There are some good points of the rainy season, of course. Rain helps grow trees and plants, such as rice. And also, rain water is collected in water reservoirs, is...

Emperor wishing retirement, was one of the major headlines last week in Japan. The initial report was from the public broadcasting company NHK. It claimed that the Emperor has been expressing his intention to abdicate for several years now due to the heavy burden of his public duties. Then came a series of mixed reports, some in support and others in complete denial. Official sources including the Imperial Household Agency have provided no meaningful information as of yet. We are left to wonder ...

Thank you for all the guests who attended the Tokyo Free Walking Tour on July 9th. Even though it was raining hard because of the typhoon, still we had the regular tour as usual. During the two-hour walk, the guides were very responsive to the inquiry of the guest because most of them were very attentive and curious at the same time.  Actually, some of the guests learned  Japanese histories and knew about famous locations in Tokyo beforehand through social medias or guide books. Some guests were...

Thank you very much for joining our tour! Although it was an extremely hot and humid day today, we had apx.60 guests thankfully. We separated into 5 groups with about 10~15 people in each group, which was relatively big compared to recent tendency. According to weather forecast, the temperature was over 35 degrees in Tokyo for the first time this year, which is officially called ‘extremely hot day’. The breeze blowing through ‘Matsu-no-O-Roka’ felt so comfortable instead. Mostly we stayed in the...

Thank you for joining our tour on June 25th, Saturday. We welcomed 30 guests in four groups from USA, Australia, U.K. Sweden, Belgium, Russia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore and Japan. We were worried about weather in the morning but no rain. It was cloudy sky and it feels good when wind blows. Thanks to all the guests for joining and having a good time with us. I visited Kumamoto castle earlier this month. A powerful 7 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japanese island of Kyushu on A...

We welcomed 13 guests from France, Argentina, Sngapore, U.K., U.S.A. Some guests couldn't find Tokyo Marunouchi Exit easily but we could start our tour after 10:00am. We divided the guests into 3 groups. It was raining weakly, and the green leaves and some flowers looked clearly. Especially many mushrooms in the Honmaru laon area were small and so cute. It's a rainy season in Japan and also a season of "Sansai" or edible wild plants. My brother who lives in Yamagata prefecture (northeast part of...