Thank you so much for joining the tours in Asakusa and Ueno Park on May 26. We welcomed 17 guests from America, Canada, Sweden, Armenia, Germany, India and Dubai. It was extremely hot like a mid-summer’s day for this time of year. Nevertheless, I hope all of you enjoyed walking together with us. We offer four different free walking tours in Tokyo and the newest tour is Ueno Park. Ueno Park is one of the best-loved and most beautiful spaces in Japan and over 10mil people visit each year. The Park has many historic spots since it was the site of Kaneiji Temple, the family temple of the ruling Tokugawa clan during the Edo period for nearly 270 years. It was open 140 years ago after the civil war with the Meiji Restoration. Since then the area has rapidly developed and became a major tourist spot. The attraction of the Park is not only to show the modern architectures but also preserve the ancient buildings. The main building of Tokyo National Museum is the Western and Japanese eclectic architectural style, and now holds the special exhibition from Kyoto To-ji Temple (until June 2). National Museum of Western Art planned by […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa and Ueno. On that day, May 12, we welcomed 21 guests on our walking tour. These people came from different corners of the world, including Australia, Brazil, Colombia, France, Singapore, Spain, U.K. and U.S.A. On the same day, we held our tour three times at the different locations, Asakusa and Ueno. At first, we started our morning tour at 10:00 A.M. in Asakusa. It began from an iconic location in the area named “Kaminarimon Gate” or Thunder Gate and ended at Asakusa Shinto Shrine. In the shrine compound, we were able to see many festive decorations like banners and Japanese paper lanterns. This is in preparation for an upcoming religious event called the Sanjya Festival. The cerebration will start from 17th of May and continues until 19th of this month. The term Sanjya means three deities, who are enshrined in the Asakusa Shinto Shrine. These deities were the ones involved in establishing the Sensoji Buddhist Temple. As part of the celebration, three portable shrines for these deities were set up in the shrine’s storage area and open to the public. Next, we have implemented the simultaneous tours to efficiently […]
A new walking tour will be held at Ueno Park on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month starting from May 12 at 1:30pm. As we have the existing tour in Asakusa in the morning and afternoon on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, you can combine the Ueno Park tour with the Asakusa morning tour if you wish. In other words, our Asakusa tour starts at 10am and finish around at 11:30 and you may move to Ueno by Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (the third stop) in time for the Ueno Park Tour. Of course, with a sufficient lunch break. Asakusa Sensoji Temple is the Tokyo’s oldest temple known for the symbolic Kaminarimon-gate and the atmosphere of the old Tokyo remains strong. About 30 million people are said to visit the temple every year. The Japan’s oldest Nakamise Shopping street, Pagoda, huge waraji sandals and the main hall where the sacred Buddhist statures are housed. On the other hand, Ueno Park was the site of Kaneiji Temple, the largest and family temple of the ruling Tokugawa family for 270 years during the Edo period. Apparently, the Park is a cultural mecca and has full of attractions […]
Thanks to 3 guests who participated in the tour from Australia and Iran. The weather was cloudy. This was in fact the very last tour in Heisei Era. As mentioned in other articles, Japan has its own calendar year name by Emperor reigning era, so called Gengo. Until this year’s April is called Heisei. From 1989 till this year was Heisei 1 to 31. Then from May, Gengo is changed to Reiwa. This year is Reiwa 1. Until today’s tour, UENO Park course was conducted on irregular basis as trial. But we have decided to conduct it as regular tour, twice a month, every other Sunday afternoon. That is our new plan in Reiwa era. One of attractions of UENO park is collection of museums along with temples, shrines, a zoo and greenery. There are 6 museums within the park premise. Tokyo National Museum, exhibiting arts and archaeology, which is like Musee du louvre in Paris or Great Britain Museum in London, National Museum of Nature and Science The National Museum of Western Art, mainly painting exhibition, which is like Musee d’orsay in Paris. The building was designed by Swiss architect, Le Courbusier and designated as the World Heritage site. Tokyo Metropolitan […]
Although cherry blossoms have fallen at Ueno Park, Tokyo National Museum is displaying the breathtaking arts of Esoteric Buddhism from Toji-Temple Kyoto. To-ji Temple has the 1200-year history which is the Japan’s first esoteric temple associated with Kukai or Kobo Daishi. Toji-Temple is designated as a world heritage property and a number of the treasures are gathered together from the Temple. The special exhibition features an extraordinary 15 out of 21 Buddhist statues counting 11 national treasures and 4 important cultural properties housed at the Lecture Hall of To-ji Temple. In addition, outstanding paintings, calligraphy and fancy artworks representing the pinnacle of Esoteric Buddhism are also on display. All of these objects are handed down for nearly 1,200 years at To-ji Temple since its establishment. Shingon Buddhism was founded by Kukai, one of the most influential monks and demonstrates Kukai’s world representing ultimate happiness and enlightenment. Mt. Koya is its birthplace and has been the object of pilgrimage from ancient times. You will be mesmerized by the dignified beauty and taken to the unrealistic world. It is recommendable to see this special performance regardless of whether you will go to Kyoto or not because the major items are now in […]
I want to thank all of you for participating in our tour at Ueno Park on March 21. Nine people kindly joined our tour from Spain, America and UK. It was a bit windy but a nice Spring weather. I hope all of you enjoyed walking with us. As a matter of fact Ueno Park is one of the most famous and popular hanami(cherry blossom viewing) spot in Tokyo. Over 1,200 cherry trees are planted with 50 varieties. Although we have witnessed some other early blossoming of the trees, Somei-yoshino, the most planted and favorite species in Japan have just started to bloom. 550 Someiyoshino trees may reach the blooming peak in a week or so depending upon the temperatures. Since cherry blossoms signal the arrival of Spring, Japanese people traditionally admire them from the ancient times. Somei-yoshino is relatively new in the history. It was developed by the crossbreeding between Ohshima and Edo-higan cherry trees and cultivated by the gardener at Somei Village, currently Toshima, Tokyo in the late Edo period over 250 years ago. It is a clone from a single tree and propagated by grafting to all over Japan and the rest of the world. Therefore, each […]
Thank all of you for joining our tour at Meiji shrine and Harajuku area on March17. The weather was perfect in the beginning of Spring. We had 16 friendly guests from America, Australia and UK. I hope all of you enjoyed walking with us. Meiji Shrine was constructed about 100 years ago and is dedicated to the souls of the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The shrine is the most popular destination during the new year days. The torii gate unique to a shrine and represents the border between the actual world and sacred world. The massive display is the sake barrels which were donated by sake manufacturers across the country. There are approximately 200 barrels. Each barrel can contain 72 liters but all of them are empty. Sake is rice wine. Rice and Shinto shrine have been inseparable from the ancient times. The fundamental function of the shrine is to pray for the good harvest of rice. Rice and sake are offered to shrines at the time of a good harvest. Purification is an essential element at a shrine. Before visiting the main hall, it is a tradition for visitors to follow the ritual practice to cleanse their hands […]
Ueno Park is historically famous for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spot in Tokyo. There are over 1,200 cherry trees. Some species have already bloomed but the most symbolic cherry blossoms (Somei-yoshino) have not come out yet and are expected to be in full bloom toward the end of the month or beginning of April depending on the weather(temperatures). Ueno Park site was the part of Kaneiji Temple which used to be the largest and a family temple of the ruling Tokugawa clan during the Edo period. Some species of the wild cherry trees were originally brought from Mount Yoshino in Nara known for one of the Japan’s most famous and oldest cherry tree spots and planted at the current Ueno Park site when the Temple was built about 400 years ago. The best part is the central pathway between the southern main gate and the fountain square at the park. Several historical buildings stand along the main street. All of them were constructed during the Edo period about 370-400 years ago. Ueno Toshogu Shrine is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Shogun who established the Edo Shogunate. There are over 200 stone and 48 bronze lanterns along the approach. The […]
Thank you so much for joining the first tour at Ueno Park on February 11. We welcomed five guests from America, UK, France and Canada. I really appreciate your participation in our tour in spite of the cold weather. It is spring according to the calendar but is still wintry. Some winter cherry blossoms were blooming. I hope all of you enjoyed walking with us on the memorable day at Ueno Park. As you may know Ueno Park is full of tourist attractions such as nature, museums, temples, shrines, statues, pond etc. Among them the most popular destination may be Tokyo National Museum. Tokyo National Museum is the oldest and largest museum in Japan. They have about 120,000 items including 89 national treasures. There’s no other place in Japan where you can admire so many cultural and historical masterpieces. The current main building, Japanese gallery was reconstructed after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the building structure is the combination of Japanese and European architecture. One of the reasons for the popularity is that their permanent display of the main building is outstanding and definitely worthwhile to visit. Main building shows the variety of the Japanese arts from the ancient […]
In addition to the existing tours at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, Asakusa Sensoji Temple and Meiji Shrine / Harajuku, we will have another walking tour at the heart of Ueno Park starting on February 11. This will be the fourth tour for TFWT. The starting point is the front of Park Exit of JR Ueno Station and the goal is the statue of Saigo Takamori. Ueno Park is one of the first public parks in Japan. In fact, the park was the site of Kaneiji Temple, the Japan’s largest and family temple of the ruling Tokugawa dynasty during the Edo period which continued for nearly 270 years. The temple was politically and religiously influential and the site of the temple was twice as large as the current park at its peak. However, when the Japan’s largest ever civil war broke out in the late 1800s, Kaneiji was ruined and devastated by fires. Afterwards, the grounds became a public park. Fortunately, the 400-year old historical buildings including Ueno Toshogu Shrine, five-storied pagoda and Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple survive the earthquakes, fires and wars in the original forms and miraculously remain intact and aesthetic. Now the park is expansive, offers […]
