Asakusa History Tour With Exquisite Traditional Lunch
Overview
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Highlights
- Be guided in English by a local certified expert guide
- Take a fun historical tour around one of Tokyo's most famous districts
- Visit high-class traditional Japanese restaurant where you can savor and enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine
- Your guide will walk you through the history, ingredients and how they are prepared, and much more over lunch
- Headsets are provided to hear the guide's voice clearly even from a distance
Key Information
Description
The tour will start with an in-depth history tour of Asakusa. At Sumida Park by the Sumida River, your guide will tell the story of two fisherman brothers who caught a small statue of Kannon Bodhisattva, a goddess of mercy, which was the origin of the Senso-ji temple. The guide will also share other folklore and stories about Asakusa. The tour will then proceed to the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, where visitors can get sightseeing information and enjoy the view of the entire tour course from the open terrace Observation Deck on the 8th floor. The tour will then visit Kaminarimon gate, the outer gate that leads to the Sensō-ji Temple. The guide will explain the gate and its surroundings. Afterward, visitors will stroll along Nakamise Shopping Street, where they can buy souvenirs and try traditional snacks. Visitors will see a history tablet on the street that depicts how Asakusa started and developed around the Sensoji-Temple. The tour will then proceed to Hozomon, the inner gate that leads to the Sensō-ji Temple. Visitors will see two statues, three lanterns, and two large sandals housed in the first story of the gate. After passing the Hozomon gate, visitors will see the Five-storied Pagoda, the second-highest pagoda in Japan. Visitors will then have the opportunity to draw omikuji, or paper fortune, to predict their future, and stop at the huge bronze incense burner to bathe their hands and faces in the smoke, which is a ritual to ward off illnesses before climbing the stairs to the temple's main hall. Finally, visitors will have lunch at a high-class traditional Japanese restaurant in the heart of Asakusa, where they can enjoy traditional cuisine surrounded by entirely Japanese settings developed over centuries. The restaurant is conveniently located for visitors to rest after a two-hour-long in-depth history tour. The tour includes traditional Japanese cuisine for lunch, and for groups of three or more, headsets for each person to hear the guide's voice clearly from a distance.