Thanks to all the guests for joining the tour and having a good time with us on 14th September! We welcomed 34 guests and divided into 2 groups. Our group welcomed 18 guests and another group welcomed 16 guests. It’s larger than usual because it’s fine day for walking. Guests enjoyed the tour and talking with other guests in same group. Guests also enjoyed simple wearing Kimono at the tour end. Guests give us lots of questions during the tour, but most interesting question today was about Metro train. A guest wants to buy one day ticket for his sightseeing in Tokyo. Tokyo Metro offers reasonable one day ticket pass. However problem is that there are two metro train companies in Tokyo, Tokyo Metro and Toei Metro, and the reasonable ticket is available for Tokyo Metro only. He gave me a question how to know the Metro entrance which his ticket is available for? I couldn’t answer it immediately but I got the answer with help of other guides. Tokyo Metro’s mark is like character “M”, and Toei Metro’s mark is a ginkgo leaf. (Gingko tree is the represent tree of Tokyo Metropolitan.) Metro companies also sell other type of […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Ueno and Asakusa. On the day of our two-guided tours, the 8th of September, we welcomed 12 guests on our walking tour. These people came from different regions of the world, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, U.K and U.S. Strong typhoon was approaching Japan, and Japanese meteorological agency repeatedly issued the alert. In Tokyo, however, we had strong sunshine and occasionally scattered clouds in the sky, and the daytime temperature rose up to around 30 degrees Celsius. Seemingly, scorching heat of the sun has not been pushed back yet. Under these circumstances, we met twelve guests in Asakusa and Ueno. Some of the attendants of Asakusa Morning Tour made their time to join Ueno Afternoon Tour. We really appreciate it. Around 10 a.m., we started a morning tour at Asakusa. After overlooking the entire Asakusa district from the rooftop of the Asakusa Information Center, we moved to a gorgeous gate called Kaminarimon Gate, or a thunder gate in English. After passing through the 250 meters shopping stretch, we witnessed temple visitors waiting for their turn in a long line to worship. They’re going to make wishes like improving their […]
Hello, viewers!! Suddenly, a quiz for you. What do you think is drawing attention to the people in the above pic? ①Sunglasses accidentally fell into the pond.②No one has seen such a huge turtle taking a sunbath at this place. ③Colorful carps with long fins and tails are swimming so elegantly. We very much appreciate our guests energetic enough to join our tour last day. We could welcome 15 guest from coutries as the U.S.A, Mexico, Columbia, Germany, Austria, Poland. It was an extremely hot day, so hot as like another mid summer day of last month, but we could have a blessful time sharing the Japanese history and cultural talk with all of you. The sun shone on the water, the asphalt path, the Japanese Garden so clearly this day. The blue sky was just perfect to take any photos. And also the evergreen colored trees, grass, lotus were so refreshing to our eyes. After the tour, we were happy to see our guests enjoying the TFWT Instant Kimonos. All of you looked so cool and lovely in the Japanese style!! Oops…!! I almost forgot to give the answer of the first quiz. On our tour course, you can usually see the beautiful carps (koi)mixed with Indonesian and Japanese carps. […]
Thank you for choosing our tour among the many candidates in Meiji Shrine and Harajuku area on September 1. 12 guests kindly joined our tour from America, Britain, Ireland, France. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sudan. I hope all of you enjoyed walking with us in spite of muggy weather. Cat Street is a 1 kilometer-road between Harajuku and Shibuya, and crosses Omote Sando Avenue in the middle. The street is almost straight consisting of south part (Shibuya) and north part (toward Shinjuku) going deeper into Harajuku (“Ura Harajuku”). The narrow road seems to originate from many homeless cats basking in the sun in the old days. You may not be able to see them now. In fact, this road was made over the river prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. Cat Street is one of the hot spots in Harajuku. There are a number of trendy shops and cafes including vintage clothing stores. However, it has much less teenagers in cosplay like Takeshita Street. People show more adult fashion. Since there is not that much traffic, it is an ideal place to go for a walk with your friends or family. In addition, you will see many outstanding mural arts […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour on August 31th. We welcomed 16 guests from many countries like US, Germany, Spain, Israel, Canada, Singapore, and the Philippines. The weather forecast for this day was cloudy with occasional rain, but actually it was sunny and very hot. In spite of the lingering heat, we could enjoy with the guests overall and appreciated having a good time with us. Moreover, Ninomaru Garden, one of the attractive place in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, was beautiful as always. I was really glad to hear that some guests had been to Japan before. If you have never been to Japan, I recommend to go to Japan in autumn. Probably, the hot days continue, but it will be gradually comfortable to stay. Moreover, the leaves will turn red in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, so it will be very beautiful and be worth walking more. Because the East Gardens of the Imperial palace is being prepared for Daijo-sai festival, the ceremony performed by the new emperor, we cannot partly walk through the Gardens. However, we will guide the alternative course to make you fun. If you will be interested […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa and Ueno. On that day, the 25th of August, we welcomed 6 guests on our walking tour. These people came from different regions of the world, including Canada, Chile and Netherlands Finally, peak time of summer season is coming to an end. Seemingly, we no longer experience a sweltering day, which started early in August following rainy season and left unbearable sensation of scorching days in Japan. Under these seasonal changes, we met 6 people at Ueno and Asakusa. At first, we started our morning tour at 10:00 A.M. in Asakusa. Our walking started from an iconic location in the area named “Kaminarimon Gate” or Thunder Gate and ended at Asakusa Shinto Shrine. Upon arriving at the main hall of Sensoji Buddhist Temple, a lot of people were surrounding an incense burner and bathing the smoke from there. Due to religious faith, this smoke is believed to heal their wounds. Eventually, appealing smells of food wafting out of food stalls come into our nose. Walking and eating is also one of the attractions for temple visitors. Meanwhile, at the concourse of Ueno Station, a large stuffed panda warmly welcomed […]
Thank you for all! We welcomed 17 guests from various countries such as US, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Philippines. We divided all the guests into 2 groups and each tour took 2 hours with the guides. The sunshine was still strong and my phone suddenly dead during the tour due to the heat! ( That’s why I couldn’t take many photos) We tried to stay in a shade as possible. Now the Honmaru area of the Imperial Palace is under the construction for preparing the ceremony of our new emperor. So we took the alternative course to Ninomaru Garden. There are not many flowers in this season but you can find that the thick green leaves and the sound of the waterfall make you feel cooler. We offer the Kimono experience in the end of the tour. It takes half an hour to put on real Kimono, but our instant Kimono is far easier than it. You can experience Japanese tradition in thirty seconds. All the members of the family from Spain tried the Kimono. How nice! Feel and experience Japanese tradition with us. For more information about our tour, please visit our East Gardens of the Imperial […]
Thank you joining us. We welcomed 10 guests from various countries such as Spain, UK, Italy, Poland, US. We divided all the guests into 2 groups and started our tour at 10:00 am from Tokyo station. Each group has 3 guides, so all guests and guides were able to enjoy conversation while walking. It was a cloudy day and not so bad for walking tour. After the tour, all the guests tried to wear “instant kimono” Thanks again to all the guests for joining and having good time with us.We have been introducing our activities at Facebook and TripAdvisor. If you have joined our tour, please check them, and give us your comments or feedback. TFWT is going to hold a walking tours at Meiji shrine, Asakusa and Ueno Park. Please check our website for more details. Lastly,I’d like to inform that “Hibiya Park Marunouchi Ondo Bon-odori Dance Festival.” will be held at Hibiya Park on 23 and 24 AUG, from 18:00 to 21:00pm. Bon-odori or Bon-dance is one of Japanese style dance. It is originally an event to calm the ancestral spirits that came back during Obon season ( mid of July or August). People gather at the precinct yard of […]
Thank you so much for joining our tour at Meiji Shrine & Harajuku Tour! Even it was over 35℃, murderous heat in the morning, we welcomed 10 guests from the US, Italy, Columbia, and Spain. Meiji Shrine is one of the mecca of wedding. If you are lucky, you can see the ceremony at the main hall. After 1 hour walking in the shrine, we headed to Harajuku area, where was the famous shopping area for young people. There were so many teenagers enjoying shopping and eating out. Some of the guest also enjoyed taking pictures at the famous instagram point! We have another four tours in this month, so please check our tour calendar. We all hope you enjoy your days in Japan, and look forward to meeting you someday! (posted by Hisako)
Thank you for joining our tour to the East garden of the Imperial Palace on Aug 17th. We welcomed 14 guests from USA, UK, Spain, Colombia and India, and made 2 groups with a few guides respectively. The weather was typical summer one, very hot (35℃/95℉). We really appreciate all guest for sharing your precious time together and enjoyed our tour with the guests. As we reported, the construction in “Honmaru” area is under gong for the preparation of Grand Ceremony by new Emperor in Nov. We didn’t go to there but explained how looked like Edo Castle those days. We hope all guests enjoyed a short time-trip from Japanese modern era to Edo period in 17th through 19th. According to the Japanese traditional calendar, “Risshu (beginning of autumn/fall)” was on August 7, but it is still hot and humid even in mid-August, this year. In the days when there were no air conditioners or electric fans, people were trying to cool down the hot and humid seasons. One of them is that the house was made of wooden structure with excellent ventilation. Also, in everyday life, various ideas were made, such as cooling in the evening while listening to […]
