Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour in Asakusa areas. On November 12, with the sunny and occasionally cloudy weather, we welcomed sixteen guests from the different corners of the world; South Korea, Israel, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Argentine, Brazil, Singapore and U.K. It was a long-awaited weather on that day. On our previous tour in Asakusa, we had heavy rainfall and strong wind due to a powerful typhoon. On that lovely day, at the time we arrived at Nakamise street, it was already full of visitors, and we were still moving into the shopping street. This was because this shopping path would immediately be packed with enthusiastic visitors of Buddhist temple, Sensoji Temple. This commercial street is the main landmark to the Buddhist establishment, which is the oldest Buddhist building in Tokyo. Did you find your memorable and salable items at these preferable shops? Well, let me talk about an attraction in Asakusa, Yakatabune The Yakatabune is a Japanese-style wooden boat used for tours. For two hours, the passengers of Yakatabune can experience Japanese cuisine while sailing on various rivers in Japan. This Japanese wooden boat is around twenty meters long, and can accommodate roughly 50 guests per […]
This afternoon was a little bit windy, but rather warm during the daylight. What a great day it was to stroll around in the last term of autumn. The ginko trees along the Gyoko Street was expecially colorful enough to let us know that winter is much close. Every people walking around seemed to be relaxing and feeling at ease of the comfortable season before getting heavy coats, mufflers, mittons to put on. We would like to appreciate all of our guests to find us from multiple choices of sightseeing places, attractive activities in Tokyo. All of our guides really appreciate the occasion meeting every of you and sometimes it even makes us become enthusiastic!! This day, we could met around 20 people from U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Israel, Spain, Singapore, Cyprus, Argentina, New Zealand. We made five groups so every group was like a private tour. We always look forward enjoying to walk in both small and big groups that depends on that day. At the end of our tour, instant kimonos are also waiting for our guests to be put on. We were happy that our kimonos were quite busy on this day also. For example, like a person for me, I am almost a beginner and it […]
Thank you, all of you, for accompanying us on our tour to Meiji Shrine and Harajuku district on November 5. It was absolutely wonderful weather in autumn. We welcomed 14 guests from Canada, Brazil, Italy, UK, Austria, Belgium and Russia. Four of the participants had kindly joined our tour to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace the day before which we appreciate. We enjoyed watching a lot of children wearing cute clothing, wedding parades and the chrysanthemum display on the way to the main building. November 15 is Shichi-Go-San(7-5-3) Day to pray for the growth of children of three, five and seven years of age. Boys and girls of three, boys of five and girls of seven are taken principally to the Shinto shrines such as Meiji Shrine by their parents to give thanks and blessings for the future. The girls we saw wearing pretty kimono and boys in hakama(divided skirts) were to take purification rituals. In the old days infant death rates were high, so those ages were uncertain and critical in a child life. In fact Shichi-Go-San was a milestone in the health of children. Shichi-Go-San is said to have 1,000 year history. The fifth Shogun Tsunayoshi […]
Thank you all the guests who joined Tokyo Free Walking Tour in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace!! We welcomed 51 guests from 17 countries all over the world. A comfortable sunny weekend finally came back – after four consecutive rainy saturdays. Many people were enjoying the first nice saturday in a long while in the gardens. Due to the scheduled visit of U.S. president Mr. Trump in the following day, the security around the Imperial Palace was tight and people were making up a long queue for their baggage checks at the entrance. We later heard that his daughter Ivanka had also been at the Imperial Palace in the morning. At the ending point of the tour, we were welcomed by a large spread of national flags of countries all over the world lined up on the front of a building. The display was to celebrate 1,000 days to the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The countdown has started! The street leading from Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace was beautifully lined with ginkgo trees that have turned vivid yellow. Maple trees in the Imperial Gardens will soon turn red. You see the “autumnal color […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour for Meiji Shinto Shrine＆Takeshita Street area. On that day, 29 October, we welcomed four guests; U.K., South Africa, Canada, Singapore and Brazil. We really appreciate your participation despite a terrible weather condition. Typhoon number 22, internationally called as typhoon Saola, was heading to the direction of the sea on the east side of Japan. Gradually decreasing in strength and intensity, Saola left torrential rain in Tokyo, since early morning, and was expected to head to the northern part of Japan. Even under the circumstances of rain and cloudy skies, we still conducted our tour. We started the tour in front of a big Tori, or a Shinto shrine gate. We proceeded to the main shrine building of the Meiji Shinto Shrine. On our way, we encountered some displays in the shrine compound. One was a showcase featuring Kiku, or Chrysanthemum. The other display showcased bonsai plants, or miniaturized trees. These plants gave us fairly adequate amounts of topics that we used to introduce different aspects of Japanese culture. Immediately before reaching the shrine’s main building, there was a heavy downpour. We waited for the rain to stop while spending time in the […]
Today we welcomed 26 guests from U.S.A., Canada, Israel, U.K., Mexico, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, China, Taiwan. It was a rainy day but our guests enjoyed beautiful scenery and taking pictures a lot !! In Japan when it comes to autumn. We say autumn is the best season for arts and entertainment in Japan. This is probably because it’s the time of year when art galleries and exhibits are organized. Have you ever heard of “Hasui Kawase” ? From the Taisho period to the Showa period, Hasui Kawase intended to restore Ukiyo-e with new woodblock prints (Shin-hanga) and left behind many works that utilized the woodblock multicolor printing technique of Ukiyo-e. These postcards are my favorite Hasui’s Shin-hanga prints. Hasui’s works are as popular as ” Hokusai”and “Hiroshige ” abroad. Steve Jobs was one of fervent collector for Hasui. If you have a time, please go to his exhibition! Autumn is one of the best season of the year for a walk in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. Our next tour will be on November 4th. Come meet us at the Marunouchi Central Gate at Tokyo station by 13:00. We hope to see you next tour […]
Thank you for joining Tokyo Free Walking Tour for Asakusa area. On that day, 22 October, we welcomed four guests; Spain, Argentina and Netherlands We really appreciate your participation despite a terrible weather condition because we had torrential rain since early morning. Predicted as a typhoon with an unprecedented size, strength, and scope of destruction, typhoon number 21 with the international name typhoon Lan was approaching the direction of the Kanto and Tokai regions, which include Tokyo and neighboring prefectures. The violent storm was expected to make its landfall in those areas on Monday morning. Not surprisingly, the gloomy weather did not chase the visitors of Asakusa away. We can still see enthusiastic visitors in every corner of the district, despite of the weather condition in Japan. We can rarely see a huge lantern like this, folded up. There are only two occasions when this iconic lantern is being tucked to itself. First is during the time when it needs to give way for portable shrines. Portable shrines are usually carried out of temple compound during the Sanja festival in the month of May. The lantern is folded to avoid it getting punctured by the portable shrines. The other time […]
Thanks to all the guests for joining and having a good time with us! Though it’s rainy day, we welcomed 34 guests and divided into 2 groups. I talked our guest about Typhoon which is coming Japan islands and will land next Monday. This is reported as one of the biggest Typhoons ever seen. One of our guests asked me what should we do on the Typhoon day. I replied it’s better to stay in your hotel, though they want to go out. They are a little afraid of the Typhoon, but a couple from Vancouver seems to be expecting it because this is first experience of Typhoon for them. Anyway we’re happy because we welcomed a lot of guests than we expected and every guest seemed to enjoy the tour, though it rains during all the time of the tour today. Then I hope the guests from Poland to safely return to your country, because they mentioned their departure flight schedule is on next Monday of coming the Typhoon. (Reported by Nao)
Today we welcomed 13 guests from many countries. In Tokyo these days it had continued to rain, but today it was fine, very lucky for us. So,we could pleasantly advance the tour. We told them the history of the Sensoji temple with seeing some buildings ,sign boards and rules, manners of Shintoism and Buddhism with experiencing those. They were surprised to know the difference between Shintoism and Buddhism. Perhaps they could know a little bit of Japanese religion. Today in the Sensoji temple there was the special event ,that is “Kinryu- no- Mai” ,the golden dragon dance. This event has been held since 1958 as a commemoration of the reconstruction of the main hall. This dance performance comes from the myth where long years ago a gold dragon descended from the sky to protect the principal image. Anyway now we have 3 courses to guide you, the East Imperial Palace Garden, Asakusa, the Meiji -Shrine and Harajyuku. We are waiting for you. […]
Thank you very much for your participation in our tour on October 14. We had 49 guests exceeding our expectation in spite of somewhat drizzling weather. The guests were from North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa which were divided into four groups. I hope you could enjoy the moment with us and the exciting instant kimono afterwards. One of the pleasures of travel is eating delicious food. In Japan there are approximately 32,000 ramen noodle restaurants. Ramen is very popular and considered a national dish. I have never heard anyone who dislikes ramen. Eight most Tokyo’s representative ramen restaurants join each other in Tokyo Ramen Street in the Yaesu side exit(Basement level) of Tokyo Station. . The origin of ramen is not clear but ‘Rairaiken’ in Asakusa seems to have started in 1910. Before that all noodles are considered brought from China as ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for Lo-Mein and ramen developed in its unique way in Japan. So much for the history. Eight ramen restaurants at Tokyo Ramen Street compete each other and are proud of their tastes. The price is identical for about 1,000 yen. Each one has their own originality […]
