Tour Report on the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, 27 May 2023, We respect diversity of the world!

Many thanks for joining the tour of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. On that day we hosted 14 people from USA, Canada, Ireland, Indonesia, Mexico, Israel, and Germany.

As promised, group photos and snapshots are posted to remember wonderful time we spent together.

The weather was very fine but unexpectedly hot for this time of the year. But now the scenes of the East Garden turned very green. We are now in the beginning of summer season. Irises were blossoming in the garden.

You might think a whole of Japan is now entering summer season but that is not correct because in the northernmost prefecture and island, Hokkaido, you can still ski up in the mountains even in May and in the southernmost prefecture and chain of islands, Okinawa, you can swim now in the sea because the prefecture is already in summer.

Japan is a vertical geography and actually not as homogeneous population as many foreigners might think.

Okinawa used to be an independent kingdom but in late 19th century it was annexed to the mainland of Japan, just like Hawaii in the US. Hokkaido was where indigenous people called Ainu mainly lived and enjoyed their hunter-gathering lifestyle worshipping the nature before modern time begins. They spoke own language, and wore own design of bandana and necklace. They also had own form of rituals and dances.

World’s famous ski resorts in Hokkaido such as Niseko and Furano as well as the prefecture’s capital city, Sapporo were named after their words.

In modern time, Ainu people went through the same path as Native Americans, Inuit in the US or Aborigines in Australia.

But now we live in a different time when we respect one another and value the diversity of the world. Ainu culture is now designated as Japan’s cultural heritage as well as UNESCO’s world cultural heritage.

When we communicate among one another in the tours, we realise how precious the diversity of the world is. Seeing things from different perspectives gives us great lessons for life. You can become different “YOU” by that.

Why not join us to appreciate the diversity of the world?

Your feedback is important and helpful to us. If you enjoyed our tour, please consider posting a review on our TripAdvisor/Facebook etc. Your comments will help contribute to higher-quality tours. Once again, thank you for choosing Tokyo Free Walking Tour during your precious time in Tokyo. In case you happen to be back in Tokyo, please join another one of our tours.

(By Masa)

For more information about our tour, please visit our web site at
https://tfwt.jp/top/east-gardens-of-the-imperial-palace/ ,
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or Tokyo Free Walking Tour at https://www.tripadvisor.jp/ .