Asakusa: 2-hour history exploration

based on 23 reviews

Duration:2 hours (approx.)
Location: Tokyo, Kanto

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This tour allows you to experience an in-depth history tour in the most expedient but insightful manner. Enjoy the tour chock-full of interesting stories around development of Asakusa and Tokyo.

Specifically, we will demystify intriguing historical facts including:
1) Why Sumida river is an origin of Senso-ji temple
2) How Senso-ji temple and Asakusa developed hand in hand
3) How Asakusa has become a forerunner of Japan's modernization
4) How the culture that flourished in the area impacted the world

Other important features of the tour are:
1) Use of headsets to hear the guide clearly even from a distance; applicable to a group of 3 or more.
2) Tasting Japanese sweet snacks just made in the back the shops.
3) Each group is limited to 10 participants.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

WHAT TO EXPECT

1. Sumida River
Just as Asakusa’s history started by the Sumida river, so do our tours. Across the Azumabashi bridge, we will see Tokyo Sky Tree, Asahi Breweries' headquarters with its world-famous golden flame object.
2. Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center
From Sumida river, we will stroll to Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center. This is not not just a valuable source of sightseeing information, but one of Asakusa’s newest sightseeing attractions. This 8-story building, designed by a world famous Japanese architect, has a very striking structure with the appearance of a stack of separate wooden buildings that seem piled up on top of each other at different angles. From the open terrace Observation Deck on the 8th floor of the Center, we will have a preview of the entire tour course: not just Tokyo Sky Tree and Asahi Flame we have just seen but the landmarks we are going to see including Kaminarimon gate, Nakamise shopping street, Hozomon gate, Sensoji Temple, and more.
3.
Kaminarimon gate ("Thunder Gate") is the outer of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to the Sensō-ji temple. The gate, with its huge red lantern and statues, is popular among tourists. The guide will demystify this giant lantern and its surrounding objects.
4. Nakamise Shopping Street (Kaminarimon)
This shopping street connects Kaminarimon gate and Sensoji-temple's main gate. The 250 m approach is lined with a number of souvenir shops and food stalls. The guide will show you where to buy souvenirs you are interested in. The other fun part of strolling along it is that the guide will buy you traditional snacks in Asakusa; note that the guide may buy snacks in other places in the tour based on your preferences. Toward the end of this long street, we will see a history tablets on its side which depict how Asakusa started and developed around Sensoji-temple.
5. Hozomon
The Hōzōmon (Treasure-House Gate) is the inner of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to the Sensō-ji temple (the outer being the Kaminarimon), Tokyo. A two-story gate, the Hōzōmon's second story houses many of the Sensō-ji's treasures. We will see two statues, three lanterns and two large sandals housed in the first story.
6. Senso-ji Temple
Between Hozomon gate and Sensoji's main hall, we have a lot to see and do. On the left, we will see Five-storied Pagoda the second highest (53m-high) pagoda in Japan. It holds Buddha's ashes on its top floor given by Sri Lankan goverment. We will have three major things to observe or do before entering the temple's main hall. First: - You may draw omikuji, or paper fortune, to predict your future. Second: - Most Japanese stop at the huge bronze incense burner to bathe their hands and faces in the smoke. This is a ritual to ward off illnesses before climbing the stairs to offer their prayers. Third: - Water purification fountain which people use to purify themselves before going inside the temple. You will also see a famous sculpture perching on the fountain. We will now proceed to the main hall of the temple which is the climax of the tour. Look forward to what you will see and the guide will recount there!
7. Asakusa Shrine
To those familiar with religions,it is unfathomable that Busshist temple and shinto shrine coexist on the same premises and share both their origins and worshipers. In that sense, Asakusa shrine is not just another shinto shrine in Japan. The guide will tell you why and you will found how these two religions are ingrained in life of the ordinary Japanese.

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Posted By : 815DanF
My wife and I both this trip for our first day in Tokyo and we absolutely loved it. Our guide, Keiko, was a sweet and lovely woman who did a wonderful job describing the Asakusa area from past to present as well adding her own personal experiences to the tour. 10/10 would recommend!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-07-01 00:37:00

Posted By : 704lesleyh
A great way to start our 1st day in Tokyo. Our tour guide, Machiko, was very knowledgeable and friendly. The tour is only 2 hours but we learned a lot of Asukusa and Edo history! Highly recommend!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-05-20 03:53:27

Posted By : mway10
Very interesting tour with Keiko ! She was friendly and answered our questions, she told us about the history of the places we visited. We were very happy to do this tour !
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Posted On : 2024-05-09 03:39:45

Posted By : Inspire392685
Our tour with the guide Sachi was excellent. She was knowledgeable and engaging. She kept my 13 year old son interested in the history of the temple and the neighbourhood. Sachi did a brilliant job with our group.
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Posted On : 2024-05-01 01:42:30

Posted By : Venture301587
Kay did an excellent job. She provided us with a good experience and was very knowledgeable about Asakusa. She also provided ideas about other places to visit around Tokyo. Thank you for the experience
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Posted On : 2024-04-22 09:09:14

Posted By : Marie_B
We had a lovely time exploring Asakusa with Yasu. He was very informative and had some interesting stories to share about the founding of the city. A definite plus was that he had headsets for all of us so we could hear him clearly over the noise and even when he wasn’t near. It is a very busy tourist destination and having Yasu to help navigate and show us the highlights was a huge help. All four of us including our teens really enjoyed the tour and the small group experience.
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Posted On : 2024-03-30 19:26:14

Posted By : Andrew U
Great tour! Very friendly tour guide, good insights and fascinating! We really enjoyed the experience - thank you so much!
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Posted On : 2024-03-27 04:03:53

Posted By : E8575FBcarolinet
We really enjoyed the tour, it was interesting and we had a great time. Yasu was super nice has a lot of knowledge about the city, he answered all our questions. We highly recommend!!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-12-31 00:19:40

Posted By : noahpU4904HT
Great tour - Yasu took many photos of us and shared much historic knowledge. Don’t start this tour hungry as you will walk by many nice smelling food stands 😅
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Posted On : 2023-12-30 23:38:09

Posted By : 588phis
We wanted to know more about the historical part of Tokyo, so we decided to join this tour.

We are a family of 8 and our guide was Yasu San. We started from the Sumida River and then proceeded to the Asakusa district.

Yasu San was very knowledgeable and informative. He spoke clearly and explained many things to us. We learnt a lot about Japan and the history of Tokyo.

The tour was two hours long and it was just right for us. Very manageable pace and not too tiring.

Highly recommended to join this tour.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-12-30 21:15:52