HatoBus English Tour

On July 29th, several members in FESC joined in Cityrama Tokyo Afternoon, o ne of HATO BUS tours. The tour courses included (1) Tokyo Tower, (2) Imperial Palace Plaza, and (3) Asakusa. HATO BUS lady, Mai-san guided us with Picachu character as a tour sign.

On the way from TOKYO TOWER to IMPERIAL PALACE PLAZA, we also could see National Diet Building.

(1) Tokyo Tower

Mai-san said that Tokyo tower is 333m high and transmit broadcasting signals for nine TV stations and five FM radio stations. The main character of the tower is "Noppon." (http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/333/06_noppon/index.html)

We could see Hamarikyu Park, buildings in Shinjuku, Odaiba, Roppongi Hills and so on.

The weather was not so fine. If the weather was fine, we also could have seen Mt. Fuji.

July 29th was about one week after sutudents' summmer vacation began. Thus, the tower was a little crowded with many elementary school students.

(2) Imperial Palace Plaza

Mai-san told us that the palace buildings and inner gardens are not open to the public. Only on January 2 (New Year's Greeting) and December 23 (Emperor's Birthday), visitors are able to enter the inner palace grounds and see the members of the Imperial Family.

In the Imperial Palace Plaza, we spent only 10 minutes because of the security. Many pine trees were planted in the place where we visited.

On that day, there were a lot of people who enjoy jogging around the palace.

(3) Asakusa

In Asakusa, we visited Nakamise Shopping Archade, and Sensoji Temple. Mai-san showed us that Nakamise Shopping Archade has 90 shops who sell typical Japanese souvenirs such as yukata and folding fans, various traditional local snacks from the Asakusa area such as

Agemanju (deep fried manju, soft cake with red bean paste filling), Ningyoyaki (small cake with red bean paste filling).

I bought Kaminari-Okoshi and two Agemanju in Asakusa. Since the Sumida River fireworks was scheduled on that day, Asakusa was very crowded with a lot of people who intended to visit there before the fireworks began.

We could visit several famous Tokyo sightseeing places effectively using HATO BUS and learn how to explain them through English guide. Thank you very much for joining in this event!

Kazunari Sugiyama