Official club name: The Friendship Force of Tokyo (FF Tokyo)

About the club: FF Tokyo covers a wide metropolitan area (including Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama and Ibaraki Prefecture) and was founded in 1982. 

About the region and climate: Tokyo is the capital of Japan and the center of most political, economic, and cultural activity. It blends high-tech industries and the rich cultural heritage, dating back to the Edo period over 400 years ago. Approximately 12 million people (one tenth of Japan’s total population) live there. The whole area covers some 830 square miles.  

Spring and fall are good seasons to visit Tokyo. The temperature during these seasons is between 12 degrees and 25 degrees Celsius. Early April, when cherry blossoms are usually in full bloom, is the perfect season for your visit. The rainy season starts in mid-June and lasts about a month. Japan’s summer is extremely humid. In fall the air is fresh and autumn foliage shines beautifully.

About the journeys:  When the ambassadors stay with host families, we have a welcome party and/or a farewell party that all ambassadors, host families, and club members may attend. We usually arrange one day tours such as a Tokyo City Tour or a Mt. Fuji Tour. Besides these two events, our exchange committee prepares some optional sightseeing tours, for example to Kamakura (which is famous for its Great Buddha).

Closest major airport:Haneda or Narita(Tokyo) International Airport

Cost of transportation between the Haneda International Airport and our cities by shuttle bus: 
Shinjuku (Tokyo) ￥1,300 per person (about 1 hour)  
Yokohama(Kanagawa)  ￥590 per person  (about 30 minutes)  
Omiya(Saitama) ￥1,700 per person (about 1.5 hours) Suspension for now
Other then shuttle bus, there are JR, Keikyu and Tokyo Monorail trains.

Cost of transportation between the Narita International Airport and our cities by shuttle bus: 
Shinjuku (Tokyo) ￥3,200 per person (about 2 hours)  
Yokohama(Kanagawa)  ￥3,700 per person  (about 2 hours)  
Omiya(Saitama) ￥2,850 per person (about 2 hours) Suspension for now
Other then shuttle bus, there are JR and Keisei trains.

About transportation: Many of the people who live in the Tokyo area don’t use cars often because of traffic jams, parking problems, and high expressways tolls. Instead, we frequently use public transportation such as railroads, subways, and buses, because we have networks of public transportation systems in our area that we can conveniently use. These transport facilities are very punctual, clean and safe, but they are usually crowded with people, especially during rush hour times.  And there are a lot of steps and staircases in the stations. Although we do have many elevators and escalators, they are not everywhere. So, it may not be desirable to bring too much luggage. The transportation costs are basically the ambassador’s responsibility. Please understand that the transportation expenses can be considerably high at times, as are meals.

About the houses: As we mentioned before, Tokyo has such a large population so that the housing problem is one of the most serious for its residents. The majority of houses in Tokyo are small and two-storied houses, because no open space is available and land prices are extremely high. The bedrooms of some hosts’ houses are Japanese style rooms with tatami or rush mats, and it is our custom to spread a futon cushion on the tatami to sleep at night. The structure of Japanese houses can make it rather difficult to host ambassadors who use wheelchairs in the house or have knee problems. But our way of life has been changing gradually, and some of our ways are not so much different from those of your countries. 


We really welcome your visit to one of the biggest and most modern cities in the world, Tokyo.

Revised March 2023