Many thanks for joining our tours at Asakusa and Ueno Park on April 14, 2024. We welcomed 24 guests from Canada, Germany, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, India, Spain, and Switzerland. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and share interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun times we had during the tour. <Asakusa> We encountered Shirasagi no Mai (White Heron Dance) during our tour of Asakusa. This ceremony can be seen on the second Sunday of April and the 3rd of November (Culture Day). Originating from the Gion Festival at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, it has been dedicated for more than 1,000 years to ward off evil spirits. The dance was revived in 1652 by the Asakusa Tourism Federation as a commemorative event for Tokyo’s 100 anniversary in 1968. <Ueno Park> Although most of the cherry blossoms have fallen due to rain and wind, many people were enjoying parties under the trees. The festival of the peony garden, held until the beginning of May at the Ueno Toshogu, is worth visiting. The admission fee is 1,000 Yen. As you may know, the beginning […]
Thank you very much for participating in the Ueno Park Tour held on April 3rd!! We welcomed 17 Guests including three children from USA, England, India, Argentina, Germany and Brazil. Cherry blossoms, which are the most attractive feature of Ueno Park of this season, has been approaching full bloom by warm weather of the past few days. The timing of the tour was good for us. The weather was so called “Hana-gumori” or Cherry blossom cloudy at the beginning of the tour, but started to rain toward the end of tour despite our wish. The rain brought us a little inconvenience, but we really hope all of you had enjoyed the tour with us on the day. As promised, group photos and snapshots of the Tour are posted below. We hope you will be able to remember the tour with these photos!! Group A Group B Group C Some may have heard the following story by Yoshi during our tour, but please let me mention a little about the mysterious story of cherry blossoms. Around 1,000 of Cherry blossoms trees with more than 50 species are planted in Ueno Park. Among these, 80% belongs to […]
Thank you so much for joining us on our tours at Asakusa and Ueno Park on March, 2024. We welcomed 62 guests from the US, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, India, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Romania and Argentina. 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 we have announced, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun we had during the tour. [ASAKUSA] Today we hold the morning tour and the afternoon tour at Asakusa. All of the guides felt so happy having many guests not only already booked ones but also dropped in at that time. [UENO] Perhaps because the first half of March this year was very cold like back to winter compared to last year, the blooming of cherry blossoms was very late rather than last year. And now, finally, the long-awaited our spring with full-blooming cherry blossom has come! Thank you for your waiting!! Today, the pretty good weather weekend, there were so many people enjoyed having picnic under the tree even though it was just started to bloom […]
Many thanks for joining our tours at Asakusa and Ueno Park on March 24, 2024. We welcomed 52 guests from the US, Canada, Italy, Australia, Spain, India, Turkey, UK, France, Ireland, Argentina, and, Germany. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and share interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun times we had during the tour. <Asakusa> Cherry blossom season is coming, and many tourists are visiting Asakusa. We divided our guests into several small groups. This is because Nakamise Street, which leads to Sensoji Temple, is very crowded and it is difficult to guide a large number of guests. TFWT’s biggest feature is that we tour in small groups like this, and our top priority is to ensure that our guests have fun. <Ueno Park> Ueno Park has over 50 varieties of cherry trees. 80% of them are Somei Yoshino trees. Cherry blossoms often fall about a week after full bloom. Traditionally, the best time in Ueno Park was from late March to early April, but recently it is getting earlier each year due to climate change. During the Edo period, Ueno […]
Thank you for choosing our tour at Asakusa and Ueno Park on March 10. We welcomed 34 people from USA, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Netherland, Israel, UK, Germany, South Korea and Russia. 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. We would like to let you know about one of the annual events of Sensoji Temple. The Golden dragon dance will be performed in the precinct of Sensoji Temple on March 18. The Golden dragon dance is performed three times at 11:30 am, 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm. Kannon Bodhisattva, the principal image of Sensoji Temple, appeared on March 18 in the year of 628. It is said that golden dragon descended from the sky to the earth on that day. “Ennichi” is held on the 18th of each month. “Ennichi” is important day for Sensoji Temple. The Golden dragon used for the dance is 18 meters long and 88 kilograms weight and is manipulated as if it can move by 8 people. These 8 numbers come from the 18th day. The main hall of Sensoji […]
Thank you for joining the Ueno Park tour on February 21. We welcomed four people from Germany, Canada and Netherlands. Although it was a little cold and rainy all day, I hope you enjoyed walking with us. As you may know, Ueno Park is one of the best cherry blossom spots in Tokyo. There are about 800 cherry trees in the park and they are estimated to start to bloom on or around March 19. The following 7 to 10 days may be the best time to see them. Photos taken during the tour are posted. As we referred during the tour, the two special exhibitions are currently underway at Tokyo National Museum, Japan’s oldest and largest museum in Ueno Park. Hon’ami Koetsu(1558-1637) is one of the great multi-talented artists in the beginning of the Edo period. The exhibition specializes in Koetsu’s works and you may be able to see the six national treasures represented by Writing Box with a Pontoon Bridge and many other awesome artifacts. Koetsu developed his own style in wide range of fields: calligraphy, lacquerware, tea bowls, paintings, and decorative arts. His works had a significant impact on Japanese culture. He established a reputation for a […]
Thank you so much for joining our tours at Asakusa in the morning and Ueno Park in the afternoon on Feb 11h. We welcomed 15 guests in total from Australia, China, USA, Korea, Canada and UK. We 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. (Asaksa AM) (Ueno Park) (Asakusa PM) It was a perfect day for a tour where we could feel a little bit of spring sunshine. There seemed to be more Chinese tourists than usual in the precincts of Sensoji Temple, probably because of the Lunar New Year holidays.Japan switched from a solar-lunar calendar to a solar calendar in 1872, and now there are almost no customs of celebrating the Lunar New Year.This day, February 11th, was National Foundation Day. The national flags were also hoisted at Nakamise-Shopping Street. According to legend, this is the day when the first emperor ascended the throne in 660 BC. This day falls on January 1st of the solar-lunar calendar and February 11th of the new calendar, so this day is considered the National Foundation Day. I think it can […]
Thank you very much for your participation in our tour at Asakusa and Ueno Park on January 28th. We welcomed 9 people from Austria, Taiwan, China and Philippines. The weather was cloudy and a little cold, but made us feel that spring would not be far away. As mentioned, various photos are posted. February 3rd is the annual event called a Setsubun festival throughout the country. Setsubun literally translates to the seasonal division and is the day before the start of new spring, just like New Year’s Eve in the traditional calendar. On the Setsubun day, the most commonly performed ritual is the throwing of beans. At home, families scatter beans with shouting ‘Demons out! Happiness in!’ By throwing beans, people ward off demons and draw in good fortune. After throwing beans, we eat the same number of beans as our age praying for good luck for the year. Also, people eat an entire long sushi roll called ehomaki in silence while facing the year’s lucky direction (east-northeast in 2024) to bring good fortune. A convenience store offers a delicious ehomaki. On that day, temples and shrines hold Setsubun festivals. Among them, the Sensoji’s event is historic and popular. It’s […]
Thank you for choosing our tour at Asakusa and Ueno Park on January 14. We welcomed 13 people from U.S.A., Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Philippines, Malasia and Japan. 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. By the way, when you visit shrines or temples, you may see the shape of heart on the metal fittings etc. of shrines or temples buildings. Heart shape is generally used as the symbol of heart, mind or spirit and so on. In addition, it is also known that the shape of the heart is used as a pattern called “INOME” since ancient times in Japan. For example, it is known that a heart shape was used for the sword guard in the 6th century. The heart shape has been used long before Japan came into contact with Western culture. “INOME” means boar’s eye. The eyes of the wild boar look like the shape of a heart. Literally “INOME” is named after the shape of boar’s eye. For example, as the picture shown below, you can see heart shape on the metal […]
Many thanks for joining our tours at Asakusa and Ueno Park on December 24, 2023. We welcomed 15 guests from the US, Portugal, India, Malaysia, and Turkey. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and share interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun times we had during the tour. <Asakusa> It was a really cold but typical Japanese winter, with a maximum temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius. There were reports on TV news of frozen road surfaces and a car slipping, but despite that, we enjoyed heartwarming conversations with our guests. This tour was the final one of Tokyo Free Walking Tour in 2023. While it’s common to enjoy turkey on Christmas Day in Western countries, it’s intriguing why there are long lines at KFC in Japan during Christmas. It’s rumored that sales on December 24 are 10 times higher than the yearly average. KFC, the American fried chicken chain, made its debut in Japan in 1970 and reportedly initiated its Christmas campaign. A foreign visitor, finding no turkey available on Christmas in Tokyo, remarked, “I’ll celebrate Christmas with Kentucky’s fried chicken […]
