Thank you the guests who kindly joined our tour on 7th of October. We had 22 guests from nine countries, divided by four groups. Autumn has come here in Tokyo. It was very chilly day on Friday. On Saturday, it rained in the morning, but turned lovely day with sunshine in the afternoon. It was a best day for walking tour! I give you one good knowledge for visiting Japan in autumn. Everybody knows the cherry blossom flower (Sakura) in Japan bloom in spring, but do you know we can see it in autumn as well? It is called Jugatsu-zakura, which blooms in October. It blooms twice in a year, one in spring and one in autumn. Some article says Sakura originally bloomed in autumn and its DNA has gradually changed blooming in spring only. It means such Jugatsu-zakura keeps original character. We can see such Sakura in our tour, after entering the Otemon gate’s reception, near Sannomaru Museum. Recently we can smell a fragrant olive (Kinmokusei in Japanese). When we smell this, we recognize the autumn has come. I like it very much, not only the smell itself but also the language of the flower: noble, modesty, truth, first […]
・Date/Time : Thu. Oct. 12, 2017 ( 10:00―12:00 ) ・Meeting Place : Tokyo Station Marunouchi Central Gate (ground floor) [more on where to find us] ・We leave at 10:00. Please take care to arrive on time ! ・Participation Fee : Free ・Reservation : Not required ・Participants : Foreign tourists and residents, and their accompanying Japanese friends, families, etc. For more information on our tour please visit our website, facebook, And TripAdvisor page !
We thank all the guests joining our East garden of Imperial Palace tour on Sep. 30. It was cloudy. But it got fine at the beginning of tour and good condition. Summer has gone! We welcomed 45 guests from 13 countries. We divided into 6 groups and started from Tokyo station. Every group walked around Marunouchi area. During the tour in Marunouchi we saw some wedding ceremonies. Now Japan is the best season for wedding. There are a lot of wedding ceremonies in autumn. Speaking of autumn, in Japan we think autumn is a perfect season to have a good appetite. We call this “Autumn appetite.” The reasons are 1. Many ingredients come into season in autumn. 2. Japanese summer is terrible hot and wet. Japanese people intend to lose appetite in summer. 3. When it gets cool in autumn, people feel hungry. If you want to feel Japanese Autumn appetite, I strongly recommend to eat a “Sanma-Shioyaki” Sanma is a slender shaped fish which is called Pacific saury in English. Shioyaki is one of the cooking way to grill ingredients with salt. “Sanma -Shioyaki” means ” salted and grilled Pacific saury.” The best season of eating Sanma is autumn. Its nourishment reach a peak. […]
Many thanks for joining our tour in Asakusa on Set. 27. We welcomed three people from Argentina and Italy. Weather was fine and pretty comfortable. Asakusa Streets were crowded with people despite a weekday. Sensoji Temple is Tokyo’s oldest temple which attracts 30 million domestic and overseas visitors every year. The principal building is the main hall. It has been worshipped by many people for 1400 years and developed in spite of the repeated fires and destruction during WW2. The current building was reconstructed in 1958 after the war. Inside the hall the Buddhist statue, goddess of mercy is housed. Asakusa flourished thanks to this image. This is the treasure of the temple as well as Asakusa. The gold statue was discovered by the two fishermen in the nearby Sumida River and protected by the village chief about 1,400 years ago. It is officially unknown where it came from but we can say that Buddhism quickly penetrated into the country just about 70 years after it was introduced into Japan from India via China. Then a priest, founder of Sensoji Temple, Shokai Shonin built a Kannon-do Hall to enshrine the statue which later bacame Sensoji Temple. He decided as a […]
Thank you for joining our tour in Asakusa on September 24. It was lovely weather at the beginning of autumn. We welcomed seven friendly people from Britain, Mexico, Uruguay and Philippines. Nakamise shopping street was congested with people as usual. ‘Kappabashi Tool Street’ is known as Japan’s largest kitchen tool street. Annual festival will be held from Oct.6 until Oct.12. Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather,particularly during the holiday weekend with the events and parades. There are about 170 specialized shops and most of them will have a sale. Kitchen utensils will be available at reasonable prices. You may be able to find a bargain. The categories of products are everything needed by restaurants without fresh food. You will find specialized stores such as dishes, pans and plastic food samples. Plastic food samples of sushi and tempura look interesting, real and delicious. They are an ideal souvenir for tourists to buy. When you are tired, a fashionable cafe is available. ( Maiduru pro) The origin of the street is that several people started the second-hand tool shops in 1912. ‘Kappabashi’ is named after a merchant Kihachi ‘Kappa’ya(raincoat seller) who was engaged in the waterway project 200 […]
We thank many guests joining this tour On that day we welcomed 28 guest from USA, UK, Israel, Italy, Indonesia, Philippine, Australia, Nederland, and Romania. It was a little hot but not so humid. We then divided into 4 groups. One of the group has 4 cute child guests so the guides of the group entertained them by using stamp rally so that the children would not be bored. That is our way of hospitality. That day was National Holiday called Shuubunno-hi, Autumn Equinox Day. In a period around that day, the length of day and night becomes almost the same. That is the start of Autumn season in calender. But this is not cheerful holiday rather it is time to visit family graves and worship ancestors and comfort their spirits. In March we have the other Equinox Day, that is called Shunbunno-hi, Spring Equinox Day. That is the beginning of Spring time. Both Equinox periods are called Higan in Japan. It is said that heat and coldness do not last over Higan periods. After the both Higan, climate becomes milder and more comfortable to go out. It is the best season for sightseeing. We expect more people joining the […]
Tokyo Free Walking Tour thanks all 8 wonderful guests, who joined the tour on September 21. It was a sunny day with slightly strong winds. Seeking a Simple Life Last month I personally attended a summer programme on environmental ethics in Finland. Environmental ethics is a field of philosophy emerged in 1970s that studies the moral relationship between human beings and natural environment. In this course, the teacher mentioned a theory of Deep Ecology by Arne Naess, a philosopher from Norway (1912-2009). The basic characteristic of his theory is human-in-ecosystem image; it considers human beings and all living things as elements that are related with each other, like ‘knots’ in a net. Naess criticises conventional ecology as ‘Shallow Ecology’ in that it is based on the idea that human beings are separated from nature. In his words, we should ‘protect the planet not only for the sake of humans, but also, for the sake of the planet itself, to keep ecosystems healthy for their own sake’. Surprisingly, Naess refers to Buddhism when he claims the importance of ‘listening with the third ear’. When it comes to Japan, the spirit of Zen Buddhism might have similarity to the Deep Ecology philosophy. Zen […]
・Date/Time : Thu. Sep. 21, 2017(10:00-1200) ・Meeting Place : Tokyo Station Marunouchi Central Gate (ground floor) ・We leave at 10:00. Please take care to arrive on time! ・Participation Fee : Free ・Reservation : Not required ・Participants : Foreign tourists and residents, and their accompanying Japanese friends, families, etc. For more imformation on our tour, please visit our website, facebook, and TripAdvisor page!
That day was our first tour for the Meiji Jingu Shrine and Harajuku District course. It was a heavy raining day with forecast of a typhoon coming. But surprisingly, we could meet 10 guests at the entrance Torii gate of Meiji Shrine. We were so glad because we thought no one would come because of the bad weather. They were from Columbia, Australia, USA and Canada. First of all, what is Meiji Shrine? It is a memorial of late Meiji Emperor, who had been on the throne during Meiji Era (1868 to 1912), 3 generation in advance of current throne, great grand father of current Emperor, Akihito. It was Japan’s Reconstruction era from feudal period to Modern period. In this period, the Emperor’s residence was relocated from Kyoto to Tokyo. Meiji Emperor is known to be contributed to Japan’s modernization. His figure is depicted in Hollywood film “The Last Samurai” in which Tom Cruise played as US military official dispatched to Japan. The shrine was established in 1920 to commemorate the late Emperor who died in 1912. The forest trees in the Shrine premise were all artificially planted, not wild plants. After walking for half an hour from the entrance, […]
Thank you all the guests for joining our Tokyo Free Walking Tour. We are honored to have around 25 guests from the different corners of the world like Malaysia, Switzerland, the UK, Germany, Peru, Mexico, and the U.S. We started from Tokyo station and strolled around the central Tokyo, Marunouchi business area, and the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. Although typhoon is hitting in Japan, luckily, we had a comfortable time without getting wet with rain. Also, we enjoyed autumn flowers, red spider lilies and pine trees in the garden. It’s said that autumn is a good season for sports or reading in Japan. Please let us introduce ①Japanese national sports, “SUMO” wrestling and ②a Japanese popular comic book, “HIKARU NO GO.” ① SUMO Sumo is a match between two sumo wrestlers. A wrestler wins when he drives opponent out of the ring or when a part of the opponent’s body touches the ground. There are 6 annual tournaments held at different cities. An autumn tournament is being held now. ② HIKARU NO GO “Go” is a Japanese traditional board game of capturing territory. It was in the news that AI(Artificial Intelligence) defeated human players in “Go” matches as well as […]
