Year 2021 begins. How did you spend your holidays? Last year was one of the troubling years in history. The pandemic changed our lifestyle drastically. Our activity was suspended since then. We cannot meet any more guests from abroad. This year, we are hoping things turn out better and to meet wonderful people again. To wish for betterment of the world we usually visit shrines or temples on new year’s holidays to pray, but in this season much less people went to these places due to public warning of crowd risk. Instead, some people pray to Mt. Fuji or great nature for the good new year. Japanese believe gods reside in nature around you. Gods are everywhere and come near you whenever you need her or him. In early January ornaments made of bamboo, crops, and grass called Kadomatsu are placed at gates of the buildings or houses to invite gods who bring happiness. We are living in difficult time but, we must move forward. If this year turns a happy year, we can meet wonderful guests again and share our histories to overcome this pandemic. Imagine you are in front of Tokyo Station building where guides and guests meet […]
This holiday season is unlike any other past one. Throughout the season, and as we move into a new and hopefully better year, We wish you moments of peace and happiness amid the difficulties caused by the pandemic. Let us summarize our activities of the year 2020. Considering the situation of COVID-19 infection, we have suspended our regular tours since end of March. But it does not mean we totally suspend TFWT activities. In addition to regular monthly meetings, members are organizing various kinds of both on-site and online activities, such as On-line Study workshops / seminars Topics covered wide range such as: Recommended small talk topics, deep dive of Japanese castle and deep dive of Edo Castle, popular animated movies & magazine, Kimono now & then, Bicycle tour of good old traditional downtown On-line skill-up tours for members On-line catch-up gathering On-site walking tours for members, observing the latest update & guideline from the government and health authorities (just a few times during summer) We will keep you posted any update via our website. Also, we will continue issuing Tokyo Now delivering seasonality, beautiful nature, hot topics of Tokyo. Stay with us! Stay safe Stay healthy Stay connected We survived 2020 Peace Love Health 2021!! From […]
There are still nice gardens. As previous report, there are many “Kaiyushiki” (circuit style) gardens in Tokyo. I would like to introduce 2 gardens and 1 park in the northern area in Tokyo. “Rikugien gardens”,” Kyu-Furukawa Gardens” and “Askayama Park”. Rikugien Gardens is another garden which was donated by the Iwasaki family. It was originally built by a “Daimyo” (feudal load) in 1702, and purchased by Yataro Iwasaki, a founder of Mitsubishi conglomerate, in 1868. After that it was donated to the city of Tokyo in 1938. This is a typical daimyo garden and you can enjoy 88 scenes which simulate the world of Chinese and Japanese classical poems. Kyu-Furukawa Gardens is close to Rikugien Gardens. It was a house of Furukawa conglomerate in the beginning of 20th century. It is rather compact comparing to Rikugien Gardens, but you can see a Western style house, Western rose garden, and Japanese garden the same time. This garden is designated as the National Site of Scenic Beauty. Asukayama is a small hill located about 10km north of Tokyo Station. It is a park adjacent to Oji Station. 300 year ago, the era of Tokugawa Shogunate (Samurai’s government), one Shogun planted 1270 cherry […]
Now that the scorching summer heat is over, how do you spend your autumn holidays? Monday and Tuesday of this week were national holidays, so we had a four-day long weekend. As travel restrictions were eased recently, some ventured out to remote areas as far as Okinawa or Hokkaido. But most people seem to have preferred spending their holidays at places not far from home. Tokyo has many chisan-kaiyushiki gardens, that is, the gardens designed to stroll around a pond and hills with trees and rocks aesthetically laid out. One of them is Kiyosumi-teien garden located on the east side of Sumida River. The garden was built by Yataro Iwasaki, an industrialist who founded Mitsubishi conglomerate, at the end of 19th century. Later, the garden was donated to Tokyo City. He searched for various kinds of stones across Japan and placed them beside the pond. Walking along the street from Kiyosumi-teien to Fukagawa Edo Museum, a small but intriguing museum that exhibits the town of old Edo, I found a scarecrow competition was being held on the street. There is no wonder that many scarecrows are made to scare the coronavirus away. Written by Chino From TFWT PA&C
Have you ever been to Tokyo? If “yes”, I guess you visited “Harajuku” as it is one of the most popular area not only for tourist but residence in Japan. Two most popular tourist site in Harajuku, or even in Tokyo, are Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine and Harajuku town itself. Uniqueness of Harajuku is that serene spiritual greenery spot and cool fashionable district locate both side of the lovely JR Harajuku station building. Famous for its triangular roof and a weathercock placed on the roof, the oldest wooden train station building in Tokyo was constructed in a Western style in 1924 mainly for use by visitors to nearby Meiji Jingu, which was built in 1920. The station building watched over development of Harajuku, surviving Word War II. Buy finally, the loved old Harajuku Station building ended its service in March this year, and is set to be demolished as it does not meet fireproof standards. Good news is that some parts, such as stained glass, remain intact in the station building since its completion, according to JR East. After the building is demolished, a replica of its exterior is planned to be constructed near the new Harajuku Station building, partially […]
Do you know the scrambled intersection in Shibuya? It is amazing to see many people walking in different directions without hitting each other. The number of people is decreasing due to the influence of the new corona, but they are training every day. Speaking of Shibuya, Hachi-ko, the faithful dog. This dog was the model for the movie “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” starring Richard Gere. Worth a look. He is also looking forward to welcoming you with the message, “Take care of love. You are not alone.” Shibuya is next to Meiji Jingu Shrine and Harajuku. by TFWT PA&C
We are in the middle of very hot summer season. This season is called “Obon.” This season is for most workers, summer holiday period. Many people go back home to meet their family members and visit graves of their ancestors. However, since the novel coronavirus pandemic occurred, the form of the customs changed. People are advised not to travel around. At the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, one of our regular tour course, on 15 August, ceremony of burning lanterns called “Toro” was held in the backyard of the temple premise. Toro is a lantern that represents a soul of the dead coming down to the earth only in this season so we can greet the dead ancestors. Every year lanterns are floated on nearby Sumida river and later collected and burned to the heaven. A lot of people gathered on the riverside to see the lanterns floating on the river. Not to create big crowds, that festival was cancelled. Instead lanterns were burned directly and monks chanted along with the growing flame. (Photos of 2015 Obon lantern floating festival) As you know big events like Tokyo Olympics (postponed to 2021) were cancelled this year. In Asakusa, Sumida river firework festival […]
We had unusually long rainy season this year. But it finally ended. Now that the hot summer is here in Tokyo area, we see summer flowers blooming everywhere. Speaking of summer flowers to grow at your house, what flower do you come up with first? In Japan, asagao (morning glory) has been the most popular flower to grow since Edo period (1600-1867). The first asagao boom sprang up in the first half of 19th century. In the town of Edo (Tokyo was called Edo then) many asagao growers appeared. As people wanted asagaos of variant shapes and colors, they developed various mutant asagaos. In the second half of 19th century the numbers of mutant asagaos grew up to 1200! Usually local open fairs where growers sell potted asagaos are held in early summer. But most of the fairs were suspended this year due to coronavirus. I was lucky to find historic asagao plants exhibited at the garden of the Japanese History Museum in Chiba prefecture. Many haiku poets took up asagao as subject. Here is the most famous one written by Kaga no Chino. Morning glory! Well bucket entangled Force me ask water (朝顔に つるべ取られて もらい水) Chino From TFWT PA&C […]
Greeting from Tokyo! Following to the on-site members only tour on Saturday at East Gardens of the Imperial Palace route, Meiji Shrine & Harajuku route tour was held on Sunday. Meiji Shrine & Harajuku tour Route : First half: Meiji Jingu shrine Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine. Shinto is an indigenous religion in Japan. Meiji Jingu attracts largest number of visitors every New Year’s to wish good fortune of the year. Urban oasis full of nature in the middle of such a big city Tokyo. Appreciated as a place of tranquility and relaxation. Meiji Jingu celebrates a century of foundation this year. Special exhibits are on display on the approach path to main hall. Second half: Harajuku & Omote Sando We will guide you to Harajuku, which is one of the busiest and most popular shopping areas in Tokyo! Attraction of this route: Comparison between Meiji Jingu shrne and Harajuku & Omote Sando, i.e. sacred greenery place and exciting fashionable shopping districts This time, the on-site members only tour evolved to a hi-brid tour, on-site tour with live streaming to members via zoom! Less crowded thus we could feel the original atmosphere of this place. Smell of forest, […]
While our walking tours are still suspended, it does not mean we totally suspend TFWT activities. In addition to regular monthly meetings, members are organizing various kinds of online activities, such as study meeting (ex. Recommended small talk topics, deep dive of Japanese castle, popular animated movies & magazine, etc.), virtual tours for members to be prepared for real tour, catch-up gathering. Also, we have just kicked-off on-site walking tours for members, observing the latest advisory from the government and health authorities with the utmost care and attention. Focus of this issue is the on-site members only tour held on the latest Saturday. East Gardens of the Imperial Palace route Route : Tokyo Station -> Maru no uchi district -> East Gardens of the Imperial Palace) Attraction of this route: Comparison of Tokyo between modern & present and old days. Participant members gathered at the meeting place “Tokyo Station Marunouchi Central Gate (ground floor)”. It’s been almost 4 months since we met on-site, so happy indeed! Sharing information, we walked entire course. Output is the best input indeed. Members are so eager to share and learn, thus we stayed at the first view point “Tokyo Station” for 30min! Let us […]
