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...

Hello　 Greeting from Asakusa first time this year and after 9 months good rest! March began with warm weather like April here in Tokyo. It will take several months before on-site tour resumes. But we will be keeping you posted with latest views and movements in Tokyo. Our new project is now underway something related to on-line tour... Hope we will soon welcome you to our tours. See you soon! By TFWT PA&C

The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace has just resumed the public opening since June 8. It can be reached in a 10-15 minute walk from JR Tokyo Station, the gateway to Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Originally there was Edo Castle, and now the whole area of Edo Castle is called the Imperial Palace. There is a lot of nature around the Imperial Palace and a valuable ecosystem is maintained. I have brought my portable maccha green tea basket. Let's take a good rest tasting green tea viewing the base...

Time flies!! It's already almost mid-year. Apologies for not having updated Tokyo Now since end of March. Let's take a look of Asakusa, one of the most popular tourist site in Tokyo. Step by step, day by day...

Somei-Yoshino Sakura, the most popular cherry trees, have come into bloom in Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Sunday, March 14, a few weeks earlier than usual. The Japan Meteorological Agency is responsible for declaring the official opening of the season, which is a kind of annual rite of spring. In each prefecture,  a specified cherry tree is observed as the standard tree.  There is a very careful watching of the tree for measurement  twice a day so as not to miss the five or six fl...

Quite recently the state of emergency has been extended for two weeks till late March in the greater Tokyo area. Late March... it will be almost the beginning of the season "Somei Yoshino Sakura", the most popular cherry blossom in Japan. We will introduce you the beauty of Sakura in Japan through Tokyo Now in April. This issue is focused on "one day in early spring at Asakusa" when I enjoyed a stroll from Kuramae to Asakusa in Tokyo. Asakusa is still far less crowded. For example, the observato...

KIRIN BEER Happy winter!! From the Jan.8, and for the 2nd time, the Greater Tokyo area and 10 prefectures are under the state of emergency again.Therefore, we have much more spare time at home now. The biggest entertainment for me is to watch "KIRIN GA KURU", 2020, NHK period drama, It is the 59th NHK long-run drama. Especially samurai dramas are popular among them. "KIRIN GA KURU" means "KIRIN, the Messenger of Good Luck would finally come to our place". It would come to us as an identity to le...

Year 2021 begins. How did you spend your holidays? Last year was one of the troubling years in history. The pandemic changed our lifestyle drastically. Our activity was suspended since then. We cannot meet any more guests from abroad. This year, we are hoping things turn out better and to meet wonderful people again. To wish for betterment of the world we usually visit shrines or temples on new year's holidays to pray, but in this season much less people went to these places due to public warnin...

Diamond Mt. Fuji observing from Mt. Takao, Tokyo on the day of winter solstice and the great conjunction of Jupitar and Saturn. This holiday season is unlike any other past one. Throughout the season, and as we move into a new and hopefully better year, We wish you moments of peace and happiness amid the difficulties caused by the pandemic. Let us summarize our activities of the year 2020. Considering the situation of COVID-19 infection, we have suspended our regular tours since end of March. Bu...

There are still nice gardens. As previous report, there are many “Kaiyushiki” (circuit style) gardens in Tokyo. I would like to introduce 2 gardens and 1 park in the northern area in Tokyo. “Rikugien gardens”,” Kyu-Furukawa Gardens” and “Askayama Park”. Rikugien Gardens is another garden which was donated by the Iwasaki family. It was originally built by a “Daimyo” (feudal load) in 1702, and purchased by Yataro Iwasaki, a founder of Mitsubishi conglomerate, in 1868. After that it was donated to ...