Many thanks for joinig our tour at Meiji Shrine and Harajuku on May 6. We had seven guests from America,Australia,Spain and Chile. Some of the guests had participated in our tour at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace on the previous day which we appreciate very much. We all enjoyed walking at the quiet Shrine and bustling Harajuku. Meiji Shrine looks like a natural forest but actually it was artificially designed. When the forest was created 100 years ago, the area was merely a wasteland belonging to the Imperial property. The shrine is dedicated to the souls of Emperior Meiji and Empress Shoken. Since the tomb of the Emperior was founded in his hometown Kyoto, Tokyo people were anxious to have something to worship in Tokyo where he spent most of his time and thereafter the shrine project was set up. At the time of the construction over 100,000 trees were donated by people across the country and 10,000 volunteers contributed to the project. While the number of species was decesed from 370 to 270, the number of the trees increased to 170,000. Although the then Prime Minister Shigenobu Ohkuma wanted to have the grand trees such as cedars […]
Thank you for coming our regular walking tour in the East garden of the Imperial palace on 5th May. It was on the National holiday of Children’s Day. The weather was fine and very comfortable. We welcomed 36 guests from 14 countries (U.S.A., Poland, UK, Canada, Germany, Israel, Australia, Spain, France, Netherlands, Austria, Czech, Sweden, and Cyprus). We were so happy to have met you! Many people showed up to the East Garden of the Imperial Palace because of long holiday of Golden week in Japan. For Japanese people this long holiday of Golden week is good chance to take long vacation but can cause some problems, for example, heavy traffic jam, expensive hotel rate, and packed places. However, it makes us happy! Speaking of the Golden Week, I would like to introduce you to Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route to visit as a perfect place during this season. Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route is located deep in the mountains between Toyama Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture. It was made as the road for constructing the Kurobe Dam fifty years ago. Now the road is being used for sightseeing tour. Because of its location, we need to transfer the electric-powered buses and the cable cars […]
Many thanks to guests who joined the tour on that day. We welcomed 21 guests from Spain, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Argentina, Turkey and Israel. We divided into 4 groups. The weather was very fine although we were worried because it was heavily raining and very windy early in the morning. But the rain and wind stopped as though the weather sided with us. It was an irregular national holiday morning tour. The day was Constitution Memorial Day, which marked 71th year since current constitution was announced. The current constitution is second constitution in modern time. Before that, was feudal period governed by Samurai lords and officials. When we explain to guests history of the East Garden which was a Shogun’s castle, we say the Shogun TOKUGAWA Ieyasu became master of all Samurai lords in Japan and established the castle since early 17th century. Then many question what was like before Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. Before that, Japan was in warring state period and was disunited so provinces fought against each other to conquer others so one would get to the top of the nation. They were fighting to unify the whole nation, which is called “Tenka Toitsu (Unification of Universe)” […]
Thank you for joining to “Tokyo Free Walking Tour – Asakusa Route” on April 26. We welcomed 12 guests from Argentina, Austria, Canada, India, Portugal and USA. It was a lovely sunny day though was rather hot. But there was a light breeze which was very pleasant. Asakusa is one of the most popular districts in Tokyo for both local and overseas visitors. The area is always crowded with people thus we usually divide guests into small groups so that guests could enjoy our guiding and interactive communication with us. On the 3rd weekend of May, one of the biggest events for Asakusa is scheduled, i.e. Sanja Matsuri. Sanja Matsuri or Sanja Festival is one of the three great Shinto festivals in Tokyo held annually for 3 days on the third weekend of May in Asakusa Shrine. The festival is held in honor of the three men who founded Senso-ji Temple. Sanja Matsuri is considered as one of the wildest and largest festivals in Tokyo, which welcomes over 2 million visitors in 3 days. The chances are that you will learn more details from the report of next Asakusa tour scheduled on May 21. For this issue, let me introduce you a lovely […]
We explored the East Garden of the Imperial Palace with 48 guests from all over the world. It’s a comfortable sunny day. Our tour started from the Tokyo station, red brick beautiful building. We walked to the Imperial Palace through the Marunouchi, which is the center of Japanese business. The Imperial Palace is the former Edo Castle of the Samurai government of the Shogunate in the 17-19 century. We visited the old castle gate and castle towers. It was the first day of the Golden Week in Japan. What’s the Golden Week? We have many national holidays at the end of April and the beginning of May. April 28 Showa Day The birthday of the Emperor Showa, who was reigning 1926-1989. May 3 Constitution Memorial Day May 4 Greenery Day May 5 Children’s Day So that, many people enjoy travel, leisure, activity and so on. We are very happy! Now, it’s the middle of the spring in Tokyo. In the Ninomaru Japanese Style garden, flowers and greenery were so beautiful. Finally, we had a photo session of our quick kimono. Kimono is the traditional Japanese clothing. Our guests were in kimono. They look like a samurai and a samurai princess. […]
Thank you for all our guests who joined ” April 21, the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace”. We welcomed 43 guests from U.S.A, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy, Germany, India, Indonesia and Malta. As you see in the pictures, not only adults but also a lot of children fully enjoyed our tour at flourish and lushly green gardens 🙂 On April 25th, Emperor Akihito and empress Michiko held annual garden-party at “Akasaka Imperial Garden”. Emperor and Empress enjoyed talking among top-notch medalists of Olympic Games and other professionals who got People’s Honor Awards in Japan. These guests were really proud of themselves to see Emperor and Empress. The noble and gorgeous event was attracted wide press coverage in Japan. Getting back to talking about our tour, it is said that The Imperial Household Agency will start offering guided tours of the Imperial Palace in English from May in response to the growing number of foreign visitors there. We hope we will cooperate with them regarding imperial palace tour in the future since we already have much experiences of east garden tour for long time! The sun has been strong these days in Tokyo hence please make sure to wear […]
Thank you for joining our Tokyo Free Walking. On that day, April 22, we were honored to welcome 19 guests to our walking tour. These people came from different regions of the world, including U.S.A., U.K., Israel, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, and Germany. Apparently, we experienced a windfall condition which was higher temperature than that of seasonal ones. As we started our tour, the temperature seemed to increase more than 25 degrees and it completely allowed us to wear sweatshirts. Normally, the daytime temperature rises around 20 degrees, though, at night or early morning, we occasionally have less than 15 degrees. This is a typical atmosphere of springtime in Japan because this unstable weather condition lasts in the late spring. Under this seasonal atmosphere, we were pleased to meet a lot of Asakusa lovers. Kaminarimon Gate, or Thunder Gate warmly welcomed us while we’re strolling in this iconic spot for around 90 minutes. Most of our visitors are a little familiar with the Sensoji Buddhist Temple and some temple rituals due to the information provided by websites like Trip Advisor, Facebook and other social media sites. However, before we step foot into the sacred Buddhist building of the Sensoji Temple, let’s […]
Thank you very much for joining our weekday tour to the Imperial Palace East Gardens on April 24th. We welcomed 11 guests from Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy and USA. We divided our guests into 3 groups. It was cloudy but it was a good day to walk around the gardens. We hope all of you enjoyed the tour. We could see a lot of flowers in the gardens, such as wisterias, azaleas, and iris japonicas. We also enjoyed seeing new green leaves. Cherry blossom season has ended in most parts of Japan, but you still have a great chance to see beautiful cherry blossoms in the north of Japan such as Tohoku and Hokkaido. One of the best places to view wisterias is the Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi Prefecture, about 2 hours from Tokyo. There are various colors of wisteria to be seen, such as pink, purple, blue, and white. Now they are in full bloom and so gorgeous! One large wisteria tree is 150 years old and its branches are supported to create a huge umbrella of blue flowers. There is also a long white wisteria tunnel that visitors walk through enjoying the beauty of the flowers from […]
On that day, April 15, we were honored to welcome 13 guests to our walking tour. These people came from different corners of the world, including U.S.A., Australia, Brazil, Singapore and Israel. Springtime, has finally reached its peak, so most of the cherry blossoms have reached the height of their blossoming. Therefore, we can no longer see any blossoming in certain parts of Tokyo. However, in a sacred place called the Meiji Jingu, a relaxing evergreen forest can fascinate and impress us instead. Under this seasonal atmosphere, we were pleased to meet a lot of Harajuku enthusiasts. Torii, or a shrine gate, was overlooking us, and it seemed to warmly welcome our tour group, as it always does. We commenced our 90 minutes-strolling in front of the Torii. ———— Clapping One’s Hands————– As everyone knows, clapping of hands are universal gestures normally seen in events, ceremonies and performances for people to express their appreciation, respect or gratitude. This movement is called “Hakusyu” in Japanese. But in Japanese culture, clapping of hands can also have a different purpose. One example is typically done in shrines, with different approach and is also accompanied by rhythm. One of the types of this hand […]
We could welcome 59guests amazingly although cherry blossoms season was over. We were so grateful having such a so many guests! Here are our group photos. See below, The East Garden of the Imperial Palace has many kinds of cherry blossoms. Most of them were over. They are at their bests at the beginning of April in a typical year, but it came earlier this year. It was at the end of March. I anticipated that I couldn’t show the guests cherry blossoms that some of our guests expected to see. I felt sorry for it. But fortunately, I found some cherries still bloom in the garden. Our course in the East Garden of the Imperial Palace features a Japanese style-garden which is called “ninomaru-garden”. Here the other our group photo having the garden in the background. Azaleas, wisterias, Japanese irises, Japanese roses, and peonies were in full blooms. Our guests walked and enjoyed to see there. Thanks for reading, I hope YOU join our tour next time. Written by Akira Hoyanagi
