A number of ambassadors were recently invited to tour Asakusa, a famous tourist spot in Tokyo, in the hopes of helping more people from overseas learn about the sightseeing spots and culture of Japan.
Taito Ward in Tokyo and the Foreign Ministry invited ambassadors and other embassy members from countries including Italy, Egypt and the Philippines. There were about 30 participants in total.
After a guided tour of the Kaminarimon gate, Nakamise shopping street and Sensoji temple, they moved on to a traditional Japanese restaurant. There, they enjoyed traditional ozashiki-asobi games played with geisha, such as tosenkyo, in which players try to knock a target off a pedestal by throwing a folding fan at it.
Participants also tried moving a stone from the game Go from one plate to another using chopsticks, seeing who could move it the fastest.
"I hope each person conveys to their home country the charms of Asakusa, which date back to the Edo period [1603-1867]," said an official from the Taito Ward tourism department.
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