Tokyo Free Walking Tour®

Sept.24 1pm: Register NOW! East Gardens of the Imperial Palace tour Reopen

Reopen of "East Gardens of the Imperial Palace Tour" On this tour, you can feel the transition of times from Edo (the former name of Tokyo) to Tokyo by walking through the center of business (the first half) and the center of politics (the latter half). We believe you will enjoy this historical walk. The tour kicks off from Tokyo Station, the main entrance of Tokyo. The meeting point is the Marunouchi side of the Tokyo Station Building, a classical red brick building, and one of the iconic const...

2022.09.12

East Gardens of the Imperial Palace

The Ueno Park Tour Is Back

As informed on our website, with a great pleasure we are restarting our tours in Tokyo. We have been looking forward to this moment for two and a half years. While COVID-19 hasn’t fully calmed down yet, we would like to resume our tours by practicing preventive measures against the coronavirus. Three tours are planned on September 24 and 25: the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace on September 24, Asakusa and Ueno Park on September 25. The tour to Meiji Shrine and Harajuku will follow shortly. P...

2022.09.11

Ueno Park

Tokyo Now #33: Starting from 24 September !!!

Japan has just opened borders to overseas travelers on unguided tours from September 7. With this movement, Tokyo Free Walking Tours has decided to resume our walking tours step by step since March 2020. Kicking off on September 24 (Sat) with "East Gardens of the Imperial Palace" in the afternoon, tours will be followed by "Asakusa" in the morning & "Ueno Park" in the afternoon on the 25th (Sun). As for "Meiji Shrine & Harajuku", currently planned as early October. Introduction & details of each...

2022.09.10

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #32: Shinjuku, Cool & Clean

Shinjuku is the station with the largest number of passengers with an average of 3.5million people a day. The interesting point of Shinjuku is that it has quite different characteristics by area. The Nishi-Shinjuku area is called the "Shinjuku Subcenter" and is known for the concentration of high-rise business complex represented by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. You can enjoy 360 degree amazing view from its observatory is amazing, though currently not open to public as is used for...

2022.06.27

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #31： Two New “Trii Gates” in Harajuku

Rebuilding work of the first trii-gate of Meiji Jingu Shrine is going smoothly. The main approach road will be opened to public early July after Shinto ritual. Another symbolic stands at the entrance of "WITH HARAJUKU", a new commercial facility in front of JR Harajuku Station, which just celebrate 2nd anniversary. The first city-center shop IKEA in Japan in WITH HARAJUKU is so cool. In addition to cafeteria, IKEA convenience store is also available at the basement floor. Early summer flowers, s...

2022.06.05

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #30 : Sanctuary and Source of Trend

Tokyo has many aspects and it is constantly changing. You can observe a good example at Harajuku, two stops from JR Shinjuku St. Across the railroad track, a vast sanctuary forest and a source of the latest trends are facing each other. They are Meiji Jingu Shrine and Harajuku/Omotesando. Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine, dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken and celebrated a centennial anniversary in 2020. It is one of the most popular shrines in Japan, especially during the new year holi...

2022.04.28

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #29: Step by step, preparing for the resumption of walking tours

TFWT has just started on-site warming up training on all 4 routes for our members. Let us introduce you the scene from the Ueno Park route training held on last Sunday. Ueno Park, one of the first public parks in Japan, was designated as such in 1873. It locates between popular tourist sites in the downtown area, i.e. Asakusa and Yanaka. Ueno Park is a treasure house of timeless history and culture & art. You can enjoy plenty of cultures like temples, museums, performances, the zoo, and othe...

2022.04.25

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #28: Sakura Sakura

Sakura, the cherry blossoms were almost in full bloom in Tokyo last weekend. And now its petals are dancing in the air and floating on the water. It's like raft. Shidare-zakura, weeping cherry trees. Just beautiful. Lovely spring flowers follow.

2022.03.31

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #27: Speaking of spring fun…

The weather is getting more & more spring-like. I can feel spring in the air as I'm allergic to cedar pollen. It is not quite poetic to see beautiful scenery with a running nose (sigh). According to the 8th forecast released by JMC ( Japan Meteorological Corporation), cherry blossoms will start to flower on March 22 and reach full bloom around March 30. JMC’s cherry blossoms forecast is for famous & popular Somei Yoshino. Early this week I enjoyed my 1st Hanami and Obento (lunch box) this spri...

2022.03.18

Tokyo Now

Tokyo Now #26: Ume, Japanese Plum, in full bloom

Plum Blossom are messengers of Spring at the East Garden of the Imperial Palace As of today, Tokyo is under pre-emergency measures for Covid 19 pandemic. Number of newly infected person has sharply increased since the end of the last year, and is still high but getting peak out. Feb 23rd is the Emperor’s birthday and a National Holiday in Japan. Normally, many people gather at the Imperial Palace to celebrate the Emperor's birthday, but this year the ceremony was canceled and the area around the...

2022.03.12

Tokyo Now