Thank you very much for participating in the Asakusa Morning/Afternoon Tour and Ueno Park Tour held on May 14th!! Despite the weather forecast, it didn’t rain until the end of tours, thanks to the dragons! We really hope all of you had enjoyed the time with us on the day. We welcomed 31 Guests for Asakusa; USA, Costa Rica, Spain, Singapore, India, Italy, Brazil and Canada and also 15 Guests for Ueno Park; Australia, Argentina, Germany, England, India, Italy and Israel. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to your joining. As we posted photos of Asakusa Tours followed by Ueno Park Tours below, we hope you will be able to remember our tours!! Asakusa AM Group A Asakusa AM Group B Asakusa AM Group C Asakusa AM Group D Asakusa PM Ueno Park has become full of green leaves. It makes architectures and monuments in the park more attractive as you can see from photos. Ueno Park Group A Ueno Park Group B As we mentioned to the guests of Asakusa tour, the big festival of Asakusa Shrine called Sanja Matsuri will be held from May 19th to May 21st. This festival is one […]
When we arrived at the starting point it was raining and windy. We wondered how many guests could come. Our worries disappeared when 22 guests from 7 countries turned up to join our AM tour. Anyway, Asakusa is one of the most intriguing places to visit in Tokyo, isn’t it? The rain stopped soon after we started. Thanks to the rain, the temple area was not so crowded. It turned out to be a good day for the tour. In the PM tour of Asakusa we received 6 guests from 3 countries. Adding Ueno tour numbers of 8 guests to these, we received 36 guests from 9 countries of Italy, Argentine, Phillippienes, Singapore, USA, Israel, UK, Germany and Spain in all April 30 tours. Skytree is the tallest tower in the world, 634m high from the ground. Nakamise, a narrow shopping street on the approach to the temple, is good for finding souvenirs and tasting some traditional street foods. The origin of the Sensoji temple goes back to 7th century. The legend says that when two brothers were fishing in the river, they caught a holy statue of Kannon in the net. After they brought it back to the village, […]
The weather was comfortable in spring on April 23. We appreciate your participation in our tours in Asakusa and Ueno Park. 37 people kindly joined our tours from Portugal, Germany, Czeck Republic, Israel, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Canada, America, Columbia and Argentina. I sincerely hope all of you enjoyed walking with us. Group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun we had during the tours. One of the pleasures of travel is to eat delicious food. Ramen is available in every corner in Japan and perhaps Japan’s most renowned soul food. There are many ramen restaurants in Asakusa and Ueno. When you feel hungry after the tour, I recommend a few conveniently located ramen stores in both places. All of them are popular and may be crowded at the time of rush hours, but even if there is a queue it will move more quickly than you think. It’s worth waiting. Credit cards are not acceptable at the shops. Yoroiya started the ramen business in 1991 and is now one of the most popular ramen restaurants in Asakusa. Yoroiya boasts traditional shoyu (soy sauce) base and their ramen is topped with char-siu pork […]
The Ueno Toshogu Shrine is one of the highlights of our tour in Ueno Park. Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543-1616), the founder and the first shogun of the 265-year-long Edo period(1603-1868), is enshrined as a god. He brought the century of the civil wars to an end and built the foundation for a peaceful country and is considered as one of the most outstanding figures in history.In the beginning of the Edo period, when Ieyasu fell into a critical condition, he called on hisclose vassals to his bedside and asked them as his last will to build a place where he could rest eternally. That was the beginning of the Ueno Toshogu Shrine. Soon after the original building was constructed, it was renovated and reconstructed on a grander scale for the Edo citizens who couldn’t easily travel to the distant Nikko Toshogu Shrine. The Ueno Toshogu Shrine is as gorgeous as the shrine in Nikko and remains intact for about 370 years. The stone gate is called the torii gate which is unique to the shrine. The gate represents the boundary between the sacred zone and the secular world. At the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, many torii gates […]
Thank you for choosing our tour at Ueno Park on April 9th!! It was really a comfortable sunny day. We welcomed 13 Guests; Canada, Ireland, Israel, Australia and Argentina. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to your joining. Especially to the parties who rushed from our “Asakusa Tour”! Groupe A Group B Group C We hope all of you enjoyed our tour in Ueno and enjoyed the time with us on the day. Please recall your memories of the tour by photos posted below. (We are very sorry that we could not provide snapshots of group C. ) Until the end of March, Ueno-Park was a popular place for cherry blossom viewing. Now, the season proceeded to the next stage; with various colors, fresh green trees dotted with late-blooming cherry blossoms and other flowers like Azalea and Peony. This was also so charming. We believe Ueno Park, celebrating150th anniversary this year, is a great place for a strolling regardless of seasons. Ueno Park is hosting many Architectures and Spots having various background stories and histories. We traced then one by one during the tour. If you came to have interests in historical events occurred at […]
Many thanks for joining us on our tours at Asakusa in the morning and Ueno Park in the afternoon on April 2nd, 2023. We welcomed 44 guests from USA, Singapore, Greece, Australia, India, Canada, Hongkong, Chile, Thailand and Indonesia. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and to share interesting conversations. Also, it was really nice seeing some of you in both tours. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun we had during the tour. Asakusa was as crowded as ever. But, our skillful guides got by easily and showed you around Asakusa thoroughly. With our guides, you won’t miss highlights even in the hestic time of year. Senso-ji temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo and Asakusa shrine is right by the side. It’s the best start to learn about Japanese religion. When you visit temples and shrines in Japan, there are certain manners to follow and we can show you how. You will be comfortable visiting temples and shrines later days in Japan. In the afternoon, Ueno park tour welcomed some guests from morning Asakusa tour and some newly joined guests. Ueno Park […]
Today’s tours were featured by a constant rain fall in the morning and afternoon. We were not greeted by Tokyo Skytree being invisible in the thick clouds. Yet we were able to host several groups of avid visitors who were eager to know more about Asakusa and Ueno Park. We were glad that nobody got lost in the umbrella jungles. Thank you for your attentiveness and patience. We’d like to say this rainy day was not very bad with a rain-soaked cherry blossom showing different beauty of transition, but we honestly hope that we’ll see you again under the fairer weather next time. Till then. I hope our guides were able to help you spend a better rainy day. Recall you memory in the photos below: For more information about our tour, please visit our website at https://tfwt.jp/top/asakusa/, https://tfwt.jp/top/ueno/, https://www.facebook.com/TokyoFWT or Tokyo Free Walking Tour at at https://www.tripadvisor.jp/.
The restrictions of COVID-19 have been finally coming off, and Japan’s life is returning to its usual liveliness. Thank you very much for your choosing TFWT tours among various volunteer guide groups. We welcomed 9 guests together from USA (Ueno), Australia, England and Canada (Asakusa). We really hope all of you enjoyed our tours and obtained one of nice memories of Japan. Asakusa is a place which has an old history going back over 1000 years, centered on Sensoji Temple. Although the remnants of its prosperity during the Edo period had been lost once by the war, but the main architectures has already been rebuilt and refurbished. It is really a place where traditional Japanese culture that has continued since the Edo period were condensed. Construction of Tokyo Sky Tree, the world tallest self standing broad casting tower, in 2012 brought additional attraction to this area. Ueno Park is well-known as one of Tokyo’s leading cherry blossoms viewing spot, and we have received a lot of guest entries for the cherry blossom season that will soon start. However, please let me note, even Japanese people living in Tokyo, they don’t know so much about historical sites located at Ueno […]
Ueno Park is full of greenery and a famous cherry-blossom spot in Tokyo. Its season is coming soon. They usually flower toward the end of March. However, The Park has many other unique and mysterious spots. The statue of Takamori Saigo is, perhaps, one of the most famous statues in Japan but it is mysteriously wearing a casual outfit. Saigo was an outstanding samurai in the late 19th century. He became a hero as a general in the civil war against the Edo government forces and greatly contributed to the Meiji Restoration. However, he revolted against the Meiji government in the following civil war. Most statues of the influential figures in history are depicted wearing formal or military clothing. The statue is quite unique because it is wearing casual clothes for hunting. The casual clothing on the statue is actually helping common people gain sympathy and make them feel a connection to Saigo. The Buddha statue of Ueno is extraordinary. The statue has only the face without the body. A six-meter Buddha statue was built on the little hill about 400 years ago. It was toppled by the earthquakes and a fire, and the bronze body was donated to the […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour. On the day of our two-guided tours at Asakusa and Ueno, we welcomed a total of 7 guests from the U.S.A., Australia and Finland. A cold but sunny weather condition prevailed and lasted the entire day all over Tokyo. The rooftop of the Asakusa Information Center building is a vantage point to look at the stunning view of the areas around Asakusa and its neighboring locations. This includes the following: Tokyo Skytree, Sumida River, the headquarters building of Asahi beer brewery and its icon. Tokyo Skytree stands appealingly against the backdrop of blue sky. In another direction, the luxurious gate of Sensoji Buddhist Temple and a 250-meter shopping street are seen.These well-known spots are usually great topics to break the ice during our Asakusa tour. Experiencing this breakthrough vies, we went down and started our 90-minutes strolling from the distinctive Buddhist temple gate, Thunder Gate, to Asakusa Shinto Shrine building. On the same day, Ueno Park was full of enthusiastic park visitors. In the middle of the park, a statue was calmly observing a lot of visitors. His name is Anthonius Franciscus Bauduin, a Dutch medical doctor, who is referred as “the Father of Ueno […]
