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 […]
Thank you for all guests who joined “Sep. 10, Asakusa Tour. We had 6 guests from Brazil, Switzerland, U.S. and Canada. We could see the new couple in Japanese traditional wedding costume. Oh such a nice day !! Asakusa is always exciting. Why don’t you visit the town some time? (reported by Keiko N)
Thank you for joining our tour on September 9th. On the day of tour, it was quite hot, but not so humid compare to Aug and Jul. I guess beautiful Japanese autumn season is around the corner! We welcomed 27 guests from Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Spain, UK, US and so on. We divided into 5 groups. Some of the guests on that day were really interested in Ninja. We usually take you to the “Hyakunin Bansho” where it said the Ninja used to work during the Edo period. When we take the guests there, we explain not only for basic Ninja information but also add some details about it. At the end of the tour, a few guests asked me about fruit in Japan. It seemed they wanted to obtain Japanese apples. Apple is one of our popular fruit in Japan, so that students often bring them as their lunch or lunch dessert to the school. I think it is the same situation in the other many countries, but in some foreign countries, students bring it without cutting and bite it directly at school. On the other hand, in Japan, apples are cut in less than […]
We thank many guests joining this tour. On that day, we welcomed 35 guests from many countries in the world. It was a good weather. We divided into 5 groups. Although it was still hot but not so humid like August any more. It seems autumn is coming soon. That will be best season for sight seeing. So we expect many more people joining the tour. That makes us to strive to improve our guiding skill. Not just English but communication skill. Just being able to speak English is not good enough to be a good guide. We have to be able to communicate well to entertain the guests. On the same day after the tour, we held a workshop for us to learn about it inviting a famous English speaking Rakugo entetainer named Mr. Kimochi. Rakugo is traditional Japanese talk entertainment. The format is one-man talk show on the stage. It might look like a stand-up comedy. But in Rakugo, a talker wears kimono and sits down on the stage all the time and he or she talks following a storyline playing various characters like actors. But a story contains a funny joke or humor. The very feature of […]
Thank you for coming Asakusa areas. We welcomed several guests on that day and briefly introduced ourselves. Right after that, we started our tour with climbing the roof top of Asakusa Tourist Information Center, where we enjoyed seeing the breathtaking views of these historical areas. Normally, we visit seven spots in this Asakusa strolling and conclude at Asakusa Shinto Shrine. Recently, rainy and overcast conditions have prevailed and lasted a half month in most of Japan. It has highly likely made the unprecedented records in Japanese weather forecast. Although the weather was not perfect, we were truly honored to make tours for enthusiastic travelers in this historical place, Asakusa. On the way, while strolling along the roads of Asakusa, you will see some Buddhist buildings and retailer shops selling traditional food, clothing and other souvenirs. It will effectively make you, Asakusa lovers, feel fully immersed in the atmosphere of old Tokyo. Moreover, you would probably be enthusiastic in viewing Kabuki, after you successfully find statues of five men in this historical site. These attractive objects can be found on different shop’s roofs, wearing the clothing of typical town people from the Edo period. They are called “Shiranami […]
Thank you so much for joining our tour on August 19 in muggy weather. I sincerely appreciate the participation of 31 friendly guests from almost all the continents and hope some of you enjoyed the instant kimono afterwards. Also it was lucky that we could complete the tour before heavy rain. There is a small museum of the Imperial collection(Sannomaru Shozokan)at the East Gardens on our walking tour route. They have nearly 10,000 priceless treasures such as the pictures and art products which have been inherited as the Imperial collection for a long time. Some of them are considered a national treasure class. The art products held by the Imperial Family were donated to the government in 1989 when the Showa Emperior passed away. This museum was open in 1993 as a facility to preserve, study and display those collections. Many pieces were created by the Imperial Household artists. The museum is currently showing bonbonniere items (palm-sized candy boxes) until September 10th. In the Imperial Family there is a tradition to present a small confectionary box called bonbonniere since the late 1880’s as a souvenir to the guests to commemorate the auspicious occasions such as the enthronements, weddings of the […]
] Japan enters the “bon” summer vacation week when people return to their hometowns and get together with their families and friends. It is one of the busiest times of the year for public transport, when highways are clogged and train reservations are near impossible, so good luck to our 36 guests for their remainder of their stay in Japan! The weather forecast for Saturday was initially very tricky, but it turned out to be one of the better days, cloudy with occasional sunshine. I went with a group of 9. Our guests included those who have visited, lived and worked in Japan before. This was a challenging but interesting experience. Hopefully I was able to add new insight for them. Then we had a handsome young guest. He was particularly popular among our ladies! Below is a slideshow of our group photos. Thank you for choosing to join our tour. Enjoy your stay in Japan! (Yohei) ===== Please also visit our Facebook, and drop your comments on our TripAdvisor page!
Many thanks for 35 guests who joined this tour from Canada, Bermuda, USA, Taiwan, Argentina, Netherland, Australia, Slovenia, Poland, Ukraina, Germany, Urguay, France, Nepal, Austria, Mexico, Belgium, and so on. We divided into 4 groups. The weather was partly cloudy but very hot. On such a weather, bringing water and a hand-blowing fan is highly recommended. Otherwise, you might get sick. For Japanese, it may be best season to bathe in hot spring. Hot spring bath in hot climate might sound strange but it is customery in Japan because Japan’s hot summer comes with high humidity. So people get so much sweat that they want to wipe out sweat and feel fresh by bathing. If bathed in naturally welled-up hot spring water, that is excellent. Even within Tokyo city, there is a great natural hot spring public bath facility with recreation and entertainment. In Odaiba district by the Tokyo bay, the facility named Oedo Onsen Monogatari, there used natural hot spring dug and elevated from thousands meter deep underground. Great feature of the place is that bathers change clothes to Yukata which they can rent from the facility and can enjoy eating meals, play games, view shows before bathing like fesitivity. After bathing in […]
We would like to thank all of our guests choosing us TFWT to spend their own precious time and exploring around the central Tokyo, Marunouchi with us. We always feel so honored to take and show our guests around the beautiful garden fulfilled by the hospitality of our Imperor and Impress. This day, we welcomed 28 guests from 12 countries as Spain, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Austria, U.S.A., Columbia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, India, Nepal, Needless to say, it was an hot day, but we were delightful to stroll around the “summer-mode” garden with our friendly guests. This day, a big firework event was to be held at night. The most common and most traditional one, known as “Sumida-River firework festival”. It is said that this firework event originates from the memorial service held in 1732 around this Sumida-River. The 8th Tokugawa shogunate named Yoshimune held this service to mourn the spirits of the countless dead whom suffered from famine and cholera, losing their life’s at last. Sumida-River firework became an annual event since 1978. 2017 year festival event just counted the 40th festival. To celebrate its own anniversary, the number of the fireworks increased up to 22,000 while 20,000 were the […]
Thank you so much for choosing our tour to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace on July 22. It was fantastic weather but very hot. Nevertheless I hope you could walk over to the shade and enjoyed the tour. The number of participants were 37 from 16 countries. Some people may not be aware that there was a sophisticated Noh theater at the front area of the main compound of Edo Palace and most Shoguns(leaders) loved and patronized Noh during the Edo period. Noh means skill or talent and is the oldest form of theater mixing music, dance and drama completed in the 14th century by the men named Kan’ami and his son Ze’ami 200 years before Kabuki, and continues almost in the same manners and language until this day. It was unfortunate that Ze’ami was exiled to Sado island for an unknown reason. ( photo:Sado Tourism Association) The Edo Shoguns made Noh its official ceremonial art on the auspicious occasions such as the inauguration of Shogun, weddings and the birth of its successors. The 5th Shogun Tsunayoshi is well-known for its great lover. Moreover, some Daimyos(Feudal lords) had […]
